Lucknow,August 10: Giving a big jolt to the Samajhwadi Party on Saturday, two Rajya Sabha members of the party who had resigned last week joined the BJP.
Both had resigned from the House on Kashmir issue and their resignations were accepted by chairman Venkaiah Naidu.
The two,Sanjay Seth and Surendra Singh Nagar, have followed the footsteps of Neeraj Shekhar who had left the party in July. With three resignations the strength of the party in the Rajya Sabha has come down to seven.
Neeraj,son of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, has already filed his papers for Rajya Sabha by- poll slated to be held on August 26,.He is likely to be elected unopposed as the BJP has a brute majority in the state Assembly.
The new BJP members are also likely to be fielded by the party for the Rajya Sabha by-polls. A Congress member of the House has also resigned in favour of the BJP.
Of the two who joined today,Nagar is said to be close to SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. He had three years left before retirement.
Seth,on the other hand,had close relationship with the party president Akhilesh Yadav. Both had a liking for the BJP because of its Kashmir and Sab Kaa Saath,Sab Kaa Vikas policies.
The SP had opposed the Kashmir reorganisation bill in the Rajya Sabha and had walked out of the Lok Sabha before voting.
