A day after the Nishad Party broke away from the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the SP on Saturday announced a new candidate for the high-profile constituency of Gorakhpur.
The Nishad Party came into national prominence, when Pravin Nishad won the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll in 2018 by contesting on a Samajwadi Party ticket, with support from the BSP. The win was significant as Gorakhpur had been won by the BJP in the past seven elections. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath represented the constituency five times consecutively.
On Saturday, the Samajwadi Party announced Rambhual Nishad would contest from Gorakhpur. Ram Kumar was announced as the party's candidate for Kanpur constituency.
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The Nishad Party is headed by Sanjay Nishad, the father of Pravin. The Nishad Party reportedly fell out with the Samajwadi Party leadership over the issue of the Maharajganj seat. "There was conflict between the two parties on Maharajganj seat as Nishad Party wanted to contest with its own party symbol, whereas Samajwadi Party was not ready for it,” Nikky Nishad alias Riteash Nishad, media in-charge, Nishad Party, told PTI in Gorakhpur.
On Friday, Sanjay Nishad met Adityanath in Lucknow, triggering speculation the party would switch sides. PTI quoted sources as saying the Nishad Party was in talks with the BJP for contesting in some seats, including Gorakhpur.
Interestingly, on Tuesday, the Nishad Party had announced in a press conference in Lucknow that it would join the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. In the press conference, Sanjay Nishad had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adityanath, saying they had made many promises to the Nishad community, “but nothing was done”.
