UP assembly elections: BJP ties up with Nishad Party, Apna Dal

The BJP has tied up with Nishad Party and Apna Dal to contest next year’s assembly elections in the key state of Uttar Pradesh. This was revealed to the media by state party in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh on Friday.

“The BJP will contest the 2022 assembly polls in alliance with Nishad Party under the leadership of chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Singh told reporters in Lucknow, while Pradhan added that “Apna Dal will also be part of the BJP-led alliance”.

Saying that the “BJP has the blessings of farmers, especially small farmers”, Pradhan added that the party would double farmers’ income by purchasing agriculture produce at the Minimum Support Price, as well as promote organic farming and spend on farm marketing infrastructure.

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Nishad Party had, however, recently insisted that it won’t come together with the BJP for the elections. “Nishad Party will contest the UP elections separately on its own party symbol and field its own candidates,” party chief Sanjay Nishad said.

But BJP’s Singh said on Friday that “under the leadership of Sanjay Nishad and our cadres, we will ensure that the lotus (BJP’s election symbol) blooms again”.

In the 2017 state elections, the BJP had won 312 of 403 seats while the Samajwadi Party got 47 seats, and BSP 19. Congress seats dwindled to seven in the state. It is now planning to release its first list of candidates for the election next month.

Sanjay Nishad’s son Praveen had won the 2018 Lok Sabha by-poll from Gorakhpur as a joint Samajwadi Party and BSP candidate. Nishad Party had come together with the BJP for the 2019 general elections when Praveen Nishad was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Sant Kabir Nagar.

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