Samajwadi Party MLA Manoj Pandey Resigns From Chief Whip Post, Likely To Support BJP In RS Polls

Manoj Pandey has resigned from the position of chief whip. It is believed that Manoj can now vote for Bharatiya Janata Party.

Amidst the ongoing voting for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in UP, Manoj Pandey, a leader close to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, has resigned as chief whip from the party. It is believed that Manoj can now vote for Bharatiya Janata Party.

In a resignation letter written to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Manoj said: "I want to inform that you have appointed me as the "Chief Whip" of the SP's Legislative Party at Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Therefore, I am resigning from the post of "Chief Whip",Please kindly accept it."

BJP MLA Daya Shankar Singh on Tuesday reached Manoj Paney's residence, the sources infromed ABP News. They further claimed that Singh will take Manoj Pandey along with him to UP assembly to vote. Singh also got Pandey to talk with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over phone. 

On SP MLA Manoj Kumar Pandey's resignation, UP Minister Dayashankar Singh said: "Manoj Pandey has always been a supporter of Sanatana Dharma. He has always been giving statements regarding the same. He wanted everyone to visit Ayodhya and have a darshan. This is the reason he is showing faith in PM Modi's leadership and is taking such a decision."

Earlier on Monday, SP MLA Manoj Pandey along with seven other MLAs including Abhay Singh, Rakesh Singh, Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi, Maharaji Prajapati, Pooja Pal and Pallavi Patel did not attended the meeting and the dinner hosted by the party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

"The government is creating pressure on the MLAs for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. This is how they work. They instil fear, threaten people, provoke agency action on them or take up any old case and pressurise them. All these will not work in this election," the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday.

Meanwhile, the voting for the 15 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh started on Tuesday. The voting is slated to end at 4 pm, and the counting is set to begin at 5 pm. Out of the 56 Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs, 41 had already been elected unopposed. In Uttar Pradesh, there are 10 Rajya Sabha seats and both BJP and SP has fielded eleven candidates in total. Out of which, eight candidates are from BJP and three belongs to the Samajwadi Party.

To be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a member must receive roughly 37 first choice votes. Voting for the ten Rajya Sabha seats will take place on Tuesday, and the results will be released the same day.