Amidst the political milieu of Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Nishad, President of the Nishad Party and a cabinet Minister in the state, has issued a decree to abstain from engagements and convocations orchestrated by rival factions within the region. This edict surfaces amidst murmurs of the Samajwadi Party (SP) courting Nishad Party contenders in alignment with its ‘Pichhde, Dalit, Alpsankhyak’ (PDA) agenda.
Nishad, a BJP confederate, has been stationed in Delhi, endeavoring to negotiate the allocation of a Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh for his party. The prolonged deferment in the allocation of a constituency for the Nishad Party seems to have stirred disquiet among party stalwarts, notwithstanding Sanjay Nishad’s assertion of steadfast support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, irrespective of seat allocation.
The State Chief of the Nishad Party, Ravindra Mani Nishad, has levied allegations against the SP, insinuating attempts at factional disintegration by luring Nishad Party functionaries with promises of Lok Sabha candidacies. He implores the party faithful to repose trust in the apex leadership and to persevere in fortifying the party’s foundations. Whereas BJP’s other coalition partners in Uttar Pradesh – RLD, Apna Dal (Secular), and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) – have been apportioned their respective quotas of constituencies, the Nishad Party awaits a definitive response.
Sanjay Nishad accentuates that his foremost prerogative is securing parliamentary representation for his party’s emblem. The Nishad Party has been diligently canvassing across a spectrum of 27 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, purportedly populated significantly by the Nishad demographic. Sanjay Nishad, a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and a cabinet Minister, has one son, Pravin Nishad, contesting under the BJP banner for the Sant Kabir Nagar Lok Sabha seat, while his younger son, Sarvan Nishad, holds the mantle of BJP MLA for the Chauri Chaura constituency in Gorakhpur. Notably, the party made its electoral debut in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, contesting under its distinct emblem, and clinched victory in six constituencies.
