Naresh Agrawal hasn't done it first time...

Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agrawal, known for shooting off his mouth, started off his new innings in the BJP with a controversial remark by referring to actress Jaya Bachchan as a "mere film dancer".

Agrawal has courted controversy on several occasions in the past through his remarks, both inside and outside Parliament.

On Monday, speaking after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Agrawal said the Samajwadi Party declined him a Rajya Sabha berth and gave it to a person just because she "could dance and act in the films".

"My stature has been equated with that of a mere film actress. Just because she could dance and act in films, my candidature (to Rajya Sabha) has been sacrificed for her. I haven't taken it kindly," Agrawal said.

Agrawal's term in the Rajya Sabha is ending next month and he was expecting a re-election to the upper House. But his hopes were dashed when the party chose Bachchan to be its candidate.

Due to paucity in the number of MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, the Samajwadi Party can send only one member out of its six members retiring next month.

Agrawal was in the eye of a storm in July last year -- and had ironically invited the wrath of the BJP and Hinditva groups -- when he compared various Hindu deities with different types of liqour while speaking in the Rajya Sabha on cow vigilantism.

In December last year, Agrawal raked up a controversy by referring to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is languishing in a Pakistani jail on charges of spying, as "terrorist".

More recently, last month Agrawal made controversial remarks over Prime Minister Modi's caste while speaking at a function organised by the trader community in Lucknow.

--IANS

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