Naresh Agarwal’s ambitions have wings which never rest

LUCKNOW: “Ab main kabhi Sa-Pa ( Samajwadi Party) chhor kar nahi jaunga. Samajwadi Party ke jhande mein hi lipat kar meri laash jayegi. Aap log mujhe maaf kar deejiye. Neta ji (Mulayam Singh) aap mere pita tulya hain. (I will not quit Samajwadi Party till my last breath. Please forgive me. Mulayam Singh is like my father),: said Naresh Agarwal while rejoining SP after defecting to BSP earlier and broke down at the feet of SP chief Mulayam in August 2011.

Not seven full years have passed thence, and Naresh Agarwal has again stabbed SP president Akhilesh Yadav in his back by joining BJP while he is struggling to rebuild his party after successive defeats. Naresh resigned from SP as his Rajya Sabha term came to an end and the party did not field him again.

Naresh started his career from Congress, defected to newly-formed Loktantrik Congress Party, then to Samajwadi Party and then to BSP and again re-joined SP. Switching parties six times in last 10 years, Naresh is a turncoat who loves donning the cap of ruling party.

Agarwal’s ambitions had wings which never rested.

In 1998, Naresh hatched a conspiracy with then governor Romesh Bhandari and toppled Kalyan Singh government in which he was a minister. Supported by Agarwal, Bhandari hurriedly administered oath to Jagdambika Pal. Within a week, Naresh again supported Kalyan Singh.

In his book ‘As I Saw It’, Bhandari blasted Naresh for his betrayal. On page 271of the book, Bhandari wrote, “As his detractors say, Naresh Agarwal started his career by defrauding his father also”.

Naresh, once a villain in the eyes of BJP leadership is now in saffron camp after betraying SP, saying he quit SP as it gave ticket to a ‘dancer’ (Jaya Bachchan).

The Samajwadi leadership was aware of Naresh’ growing proximity with top BJP leaders, including PM Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and Union minister, Arun Jaitley. In SP, Ram Gopal Yadav had blessed Naresh and was instrumental in elevating his son Nitin as minister in

Akhilesh

government. Naresh’s defection is a blow to SP as it loses a powerful leader from Hardoi, where the party had already lost Ashok Bajpai to BJP.

Agarwal is likely to get Lok Sabha ticket from the terai belt as Hardoi is a reserved constituency.