Former PM Chandra Shekhar’s son Neeraj joins BJP

New Delhi, July 16  

Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, joined the BJP on Tuesday in the presence of its general secretaries Bhupendra Yadav and Anil Jain, a day after he quit the Samajwadi Party and also resigned from Rajya Sabha.

Neeraj had been contesting Lok Sabha polls from his father’s pocket borough Ballia and won twice in 2007 and 2009 but lost in 2014.

The SP then sent him to Rajya Sabha and he was not fielded in the recent Lok Sabha polls by the party.

BJP sources said the party is likely to nominate him as its candidate for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

Though Chandra Shekhar was not in Samajwadi Party, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had never fielded any candidate against him from Ballia.

After Chandra Shekhar’s death in 2007, Yadav had fielded Neeraj Shekhar from the seat on a Samajwadi Party ticket. — PTI