Akhilesh Yadav calls off alliance with Nishad Party over Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat dispute  

Praveen Nishad.

New Delhi: Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, on Saturday, confirmed the end of its alliance with the Nishad Party in the eastern UP over the dispute over Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, where Nishad Party’s Praveen Nishad pulled off a sensation victory with the help of SP and Mayawati’s BSP in the 2018 bypoll.

Alliance with Nishad Party in 2018 bypolls cemented Samajwadi Party’s alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party. They together launched a test version of their alliance on the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats by taking on the BJP jointly in the byelection held for the seats of chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Maurya.

And both the candidates from the alliance won from their respective seats.

SP fielded Praveen Nishad of the Nishad Party in Gorakhpur, which has support from the Nishad community, which comes under the “other backward castes”, and the victory was astonished all. Praveen managed to defeat the BJP on a seat Yogi Adityanath held continuously for over twenty years.

However, the Nishad party now seems set to switch over to the BJP in what could be a blow to the SP-BSP and Rashtriya Lok Dal coalition in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, already announced a new candidate for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat – a Nishad community leader from his party.

Some developments took place in last two days, Akhilesh held a news conference in Lucknow, with Nishad Party alongside him, where he announced that the Nishad Party would be part of the UP “mahagathbandhan” (grand alliance).  There was speculation that Praveen Nishad would be given the ticket from Gorakhpur again, but nothing was announced.

After which the Nishad Party chief met with Yogi Adityanath and told the media that his party is not a part of the mahagathbandhan anymore. He said, “Akhilesh Yadav had said he’ll make announcement on seats for our party. But they didn't put our name on poster/letter or anything. My party workers, authorities, core committee were upset.”

Related