LUCKNOW: Even as INDIA bloc leaders were holding a massive rally to give the message of opposition unity from Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, two components of the opposition bloc announced that they were walking out of the alliance in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.
Those who left the opposition bloc on Sunday included former SP MLC Swami Prasad Maurya and SP ally Apna Dal (K), led by Krishna Patel, widow of prominent OBC leader Sonelal Patel. Apna Dal (K) vice-president Pallavi Patel announced her party’s tie-up with Asaduddin Owasi-led All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in UP. Pallavi Patel also named her alliance as PDM (Pichchhda, Dalit and Musalman) Nyay Morcha, a modified form of Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA (Pichchda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak).
Consequently, the INDIA bloc is left with just the Congress and Samajwadi Party in UP. However, the seat of Bhadohi has been spared for Congress turncoat Lalitesh Pati Tripathi who will contest on the TMC ticket.
In 2022, the SP had arranged a bouquet of caste and region- based groups roping in the SBSP, RLD, Apna Dal (K), Janwadi Party, Mahan Dal and Azad Samaj Party of Chandrashekar Azad. The SP had reaped the benefit of that umbrella alliance and took its tally from 47 to 111 seats in the UP Assembly.
However, the main opposition party failed to keep the flock together. Immediately after the UP Assembly elections, differences between the SP and its allies started cropping up. The first one to leave the umbrella alliance was OP Rajbhar followed by Jayant Chaudhury, Keshavdev Muarya of Mahan Dal, Sanjay Chauhan of Janwadi Party and Krishna Patel of Apna Dal (K).
Notably, Pallavi Patel of Apna Dal (K) is an MLA from Sirathu seat in Kaushambi on SP ticket. Reacting to her party’s tie-up with AIMIM in UP, SP national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhury sought her resignation as Sirathu MLA before charting her own course with an other ally.
Not only this, but the likes of Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh Chauhan, who had hopped to the SP just ahead of 2022 assembly polls leaving the Yogi cabinet, also parted ways from it in due course of time.
While Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the SP and also from the UP Council floating his own Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party, Dara Singh Chauhan, who was an MLA from Ghosi quit the SP and Assembly both rejoining the BJP. He is now a minister in Yogi cabinet besides being a BJP MLC.
Swami Prasad Maurya, who had expressed his desire to contest Lok Sabha election and had sought INDIA bloc support, announced his candidature from Kushinagar on his own when failed to evoke any response from the opposition bloc.
Similarly, Chandrashekhar Azad of Azad Samaj Party and heading Bhim Army as well, announced his candidature from Nagina seat in western UP. He has filed his nomination papers after he failed to get it from Akhilesh Yadav. Nagina is set to go to polls in the first phase on April 19.
Moreover, in a surprising move, the Union Home Ministry accorded ‘Y’ category security to the Bhim Army chief on Sunday saying it was in consonance with the intelligence inputs indicating threat to his life. The move is intriguing for the opposition bloc without any doubt.
In this scenario, the INDIA bloc in UP is limited only to the SP and Congress wherein Akhilesh Yadav has spared 17 seats for the Congress including Amethi and Rae Bareli keeping the remaining 63.
In fact, all the smaller players had been seeking at least one seat each from the SP but Akhilesh did not oblige them leading to their decision to chart their own course making the path of the INDI alliance difficult in UP.
