BJP ally flexes muscles ahead of Uttar Pradesh polls; NISHAD party demands Deputy CM post

Flexing its muscles ahead of the UP Assembly polls, BJP's ally NISHAD party demanded its chief Sanjay Nishad must be projected as NDA's Deputy CM face. While it won Yogi Adityanath's pocket borough Gorakhpur in the 2018 by-elections with the support of the Samajwadi Party, it stitched an alliance with BJP a year later. In the 2019 General Election, Sanjay Nishad's son Praveen Kumar Nishad contested on a BJP ticket and emerged victorious from the Sant Kabir Nagar constituency.

At present, Speaking to the party workers in Bhadohi on Tuesday, the NISHAD party president claimed that BJP had promised them only a Cabinet berth and Rajya Sabha seat. Making clear his ambitions, he warned the saffron party that it will suffer an electoral setback if the demands of the NISHAD party are not fulfilled. Recently, Nishad met BJP president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital and discussed several issues such as fishing rights, Patta allotment rights and reservation for the Nishad community. 

UP Assembly polls

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post. Though Adityanath's stature within the saffron party skyrocketed over the years becoming a star campaigner in all elections, he purportedly attracted ire for the handling of the COVID-19 situation during the second wave.

BJP leaders have made conflicting statements over Adityanath's future as the Chief Minister in the last few weeks. For instance, UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh asserted that the polls will be contested under the CM’s leadership citing the end of corruption and hooliganism in the state. However, UP Minister Swami Prasad Maurya stressed that the state’s next CM will be decided by the BJP’s central leadership after the assembly polls. 

In a letter addressed to UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh on June 20, MLC AK Sharma again sparked buzz over Adityanath's role. He wrote, "In my humble opinion, even today, the people of Uttar Pradesh love Modiji the same they had done in 2013-14. To win the upcoming (UP Assembly) elections, the name and patronage of this mass leader are enough. Along with this, there are blessings of the party chief and seniors."