After Nishad Party on Friday severed ties with the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, the Samajwadi Party on Saturday announced Ram Bhuwal Nishad as its candidate from the high-profile Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency of Uttar Pradesh.
The SP also fielded Ram Kumar from Kanpur and ST Hasan from Moradabad, replacing Nasir Qureshi.
Ram Bhuwal Nishad, who was earlier with the Bahujan Samaj Party, is a two-time MLA from Kaudiram Assembly constituency which he lost in 2012. He was also a minister in the Mayawati government and headed the Fisheries department. Nishad comes from Badhalganj in Gorakhpur and wields considerable influence in the Nishad community.
The Nishad Party is now in talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party for an alliance and its chief, Sanjay Nishad, met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Friday.
Ironically, Sanjay Nishad’s son Pravin Nishad is Samajwadi Party’s incumbent MP from Gorakhpur after he defeated the BJP candidate in the 2018 by-election to Gorakhpur seat by 21,000 votes.
Gorakhpur has been the home turf of UP Chief Minister and since 1989, the party has been winning the Gorakhpur parliamentary seat.
“Nishad Party is now a member of the National Democratic Alliance but technically, I am still the MP of Samajwadi Party,” Pravin Nishad said and added, “So far nothing is final and decision about my candidature from Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat will be taken shortly.”
The Nishad Party had joined the SP-BSP-RLD alliance on March 25 and it was believed that Pravin Nishad would once again be the alliance candidate from Gorakhpur.
Pravin Nishad had contested the March 2018 by-election to Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat on SP ticket and his victory had sent shock waves in the BJP as the saffron party had won this seat eight consecutive times since 1989.
Gorakhpur is a known bastion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who represented the Lok Sabha constituency for five times. The earlier three elections were won by his guru Mahant Avaidyanath.
SP sources said the discord between the SP and the Nishad Party was over the number of seats demanded by Sanjay Nishad. Besides Gorakhpur, Nishad Party wanted Maharajganj and Jaunpur Lok Sabha seats but this demand was rejected by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
