BJP, Nishad Party tie up for UP polls

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan Friday announced that the BJP would contest next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in alliance with the Nishad Party led by Sanjay Nishad. The Apna Dal (Sonelal) is already a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Nishad Party, or Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal, had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP, which had fielded Sanjay Nishad’s on Praveen Nishad from Sant Kabir Nagar. Praveen was elected to Parliament but soon there was talk of the Nishad Party distancing itself from the alliance after Sanjay Nishad said the NDA had not kept the promises it made to his organisation. He also demanded that a deputy chief ministerial face from his party be announced ahead of the polls. The Nishad Party is said to have influence among fishermen and boatmen in eastern Uttar Pradesh, especially around the Gorakhpur region.

But dismissing speculation about their differences, the two parties announced the tie-up for the 2022 polls. “We will have an alliance with the Nishad Party. We will fight the Assembly elections together,” Pradhan told reporters in Lucknow.

He was accompanied by BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh, state Cabinet minister Sidhartha Nath Singh, and Sanjay Nishad.