LUCKNOW: In a major setback to Akhilesh Yadav- led Samajwadi Party, Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat and party too. As per sources, in all probability, the 50-year-old politician is set to join the ruling BJP in the days to come.
Though the SP leader’s Rajya Sabha tenure was to end in 2020, he might be nominated to the upper house by the ruling party yet again in 2020. The sources claimed that Shekhar had been annoyed over denial of a Lok Sabha ticket from his father’s traditional constituency Ballia in eastern UP.
In fact, Neeraj Shekhar had contested and won from his father's Ballia constituency as a Samajwadi Party candidate in polls in 2007. In 2009, he was re-elected from the constituency. Shekhar’s resignation has left the SP’s strength curtailed further. Now SP stands with only nine members in the Rajya Sabha besides five in the Lok Sabha.