With an aim to present a bouquet of caste combination ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP on Wednesday announced alliance with the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party.
BJP chief J.P. Nadda announced the alliance to further the social justice plank of the party. Addressing a press conference, Nadda, flanked by Apna Dal chief Anupriya Patel and Sanjay Nishad-led Nishad Party, said the NDA will win the upcoming elections.
Before announcing the alliance, senior BJP leaders including Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Dharmendra Pradhan, Anurag Thakur and Swantantra Dev held a meeting with their allies to discuss the seat sharing.
The alliance assumes significance as BJP's main competitor Samajwadi Party had stitched alliances with several caste-based parties and welcomed several OBC leaders, who had left the BJP, into it. The OBC politics plays a major role in deciding the outcome of state elections. The BJP had wooed non-Yadav backward castes to get support of maximum population.
Nadda said Yogi Adityanath government has changed the atmosphere in the state, from a crime-prone region to a place where rule of law prevailed, which helped in attracting investment. He also praised the connectivity in the state which has put it on the growth path.
This alliance had earlier contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Nadda said NDA will contest on all the 403 seats. He did not announce the seat sharing formula as sources said discussions were still on.
Anupriya Patel, a minister of state in the Modi government, termed the alliance between Apna Dal, Nishad Party and BJP as a best cocktail of development and social justice.
“I want to ask all parties who claim to represent the backward classes. The (previous) UPA government ignored OBC reservation in medical seats. Those parties representing backward classes agreed to reservation-less NEET policy. But it was the Narendra Modi-led-NDA government which brought in the changes. PM Modi developed all places associated with founding father Dr BR Ambedkar,” Patel said.
Nishad had joined the NDA first in 2019. He said he believed in the Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas slogan of the Modi government. He listed the different schemes and benefits extended by the Modi government for his constituency,” he said.
