BJP allies seek share in UP pie for 2022 polls

Lucknow, Sep 16 More and more allies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are demanding their proverbial pound of flesh in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

The latest to join the bandwagon is the Republican Party of India (RPI).

RPI national president and Union minister Ramdas Athawale has said that his party would field candidates on around 10-12 seats dominated by the Muslims, Schedule Castes and backward classes in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He said that discussions regarding seat distribution in poll-bound Uttar Pardesh are underway with BJP national president J.P. Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Athawale said his party will kick off the poll campaign by taking out the Bahujan Kalyan Yatra from Saharanpur on September 26, which will culminate in a rally in Lucknow on December 18, after covering several districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The Janata Dal(United) has already said that though it would prefer to contest the elections in alliance with the BJP, it would still field candidates if the alliance did not materialise.

Party General Secretary K.C. Tyagi has already said that while their first choice would be to be accommodated in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), it will still go ahead with its plans to contest in UP even if that does not materialise.

"Our first choice will be to contest as part of the NDA, and we hope it works out. We have had an old presence in UP since the days of the erstwhile Samata Party, though we did not contest in 2017. We had MLAs in UP and we also had ministers in the government. The objective is to revive the party beyond Bihar," he said.

State JD(U) president Anoop Singh Patel said, "We have asked out workers to prepare for elections on the maximum number of seats in the state."

According to sources, the JD(U) wants to assert its claim over the Kurmi votes in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Till now, it is the Apna Dal another BJP ally that wields considerable influence over the Kurmi community which is the second largest block among OBC voters after Yadavs.

On the other hand, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), led by Mukesh Sahani, is also determined to contest the UP elections - with or without BJP.

Mukesh Sahani, who happens to be a minister in the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, has said that his party will contest on 165 Assembly seats that have a sizeable Nishad population.

The VIP is at loggerheads with the Nishad Party that is inching closer to the BJP. Both the parties claim to be custod of the Nishad votes in UP.

Nishad Party president Sanjay Nishad, sources said, has sought 70 seats from the BJP for the 2022 Assembly polls.

A senior BJP functionary, talking on condition of anonymity, said that the demands being put forth by its allies were 'impractical' because they did not have a base in Uttar Pradesh.

"The 2022 Assembly election is crucial for us and every seat matters. We cannot give away seats, knowing that they will be lost. The party leadership is closely monitoring every seat and the decision will be taken at the highest level," he said