Riled Anupriya Patel not to attend PM event in Ghazipur: Apna Dal

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: Upset over regular snubs by the BJP to absence of invites to premier health schemes or hospital launches as well as no cabinet berth in UP government, Apna Dal on Thursday hardened its stance, saying Union minister and party MP Anupriya Patel would not share the stage with PM Narendra Modi at his Ghazipur programme.
The move comes barely 48 hours after Apna Dal president Ashish Patel heaped praises on BSP supremo Mayawati as well as asked BJP to learn a lesson in humility following multiple defeats in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
"Anupriya will receive the PM at the Ghazipur airstrip and move back to her constituency Mirzapur. Enough is enough. She won't break protocol but would not participate in the launch of a regional medical college in Ghazipur," Patel, who is Anupriya's husband, told TOI on Thursday.
Union minister Anupriya Patel on Thursday endorsed her husband and Apna Dal president Ashish Patel's allegation that BJP was ignoring smaller NDA partners.
"My party president has already expressed the sentiments of the party. I stand by it," Anupriya said outside Parliament. The PM is visiting Ghazipur, the Lok Sabha constituency of Union telecom minister Manoj Sinha in UP's Purvanchal region on Saturday to inaugurate the hospital that was announced as part of the Union budget this year.
‘I stand by party chief’s decision’
The BJP on Thursday rushed to assuage the growing bitterness between allies with UP BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey and BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav asking the couple to settle differences, but there was little response.
Apna Dal has presence in more than 15 Lok Sabha seats with its core voter base of OBCs Kurmi Patels, nearly 1 lakh of them only in Modi’s constituency Varanasi. Earlier, Anupriya had said, “I stand by whatever decision my party president has taken. He has already expressed his thought categorically.”
State BJP medical education minister Ashutosh Tandon also wrote a personal invitation to Anupriya on Wednesday but the party did not relent.