Sensing desertion, Samajwadi party cancels its Kaiserganj Lok Sabha MP Brij Bhushan’s ticket

LUCKNOW: Sensing a possible desertion by its member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Saran Singh, the SP has canceled his candidature and declared another contestant.

Kaiserganj Lok Sabha MP Brij Bhushan had reportedly expressed his unwillingness to contest as an SP candidate to the party higher-ups. He is reportedly keen to join the BJP from where he started his political career two decades ago.

Brij Bhushan has reportedly assessed the local political situation to be favourable to the BJP and is confident of winning the Kasierganj seat as the party nominee. He is also looking for his son to be accommodated by the BJP.

With Singh on the verge of deserting, the SP has hurriedly announced the name of minister Vinod Kumar Singh ‘Pandit’ as its candidate from Kaiserganj seat.

The development comes as a huge setback to the SP as prominent names have refused to contest on the party ticket.

Earlier, former union minister Sompal Shastri had refused to contest as the SP candidate from Baghpat, after pointing fingers at the SP government’s inability to control riots in western UP last month.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, a day after his transfer, senior IAS officer Sarvesh Chandra Mishra was on Sunday suspended and a departmental probe initiated against him over a controversial letter convening a meeting to discuss “reconstruction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on lines of Somnath Temple.”

Mishra, a 1997-batch officer, was the Home Secretary of Uttar Pradesh before he was shunted out on Sunday.