BJP ally Nishad threatens vote boycott over quota demand; says 'alliance will be affected'

Ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, BJP ally Sanjay Nishad threatened that people from his community will not cast their vote unless they are given reservation. On September 24, BJP had formally announced an alliance with the Nishad Party and Apna Dal for the upcoming election. Maintaining that it is the state government's duty to fulfill its promise of providing reservation to the Nishad community, the MLC announced that his party shall protest in every district of UP from November 9 onwards. Moreover, he warned BJP that the alliance will be in jeopardy if there is no progress on the reservation demand. 

Sanjay Nishad left out of Cabinet

Though the Nishad Party won UP CM Yogi Adityanath's pocket borough Gorakhpur in the 2018 Lok Sabha by-elections with the support of the Samajwadi Party, it stitched an alliance with BJP a year later. In the 2019 General Election, Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad's son Praveen Kumar Nishad contested on a BJP ticket and emerged victorious from the Sant Kabir Nagar constituency. In the last few months, Sanjay Nishad has held a series of meetings with the BJP central leadership ostensibly to discuss issues such as fishing rights, Patta allotment rights and reservation for the Nishad community. 

While he initially demanded the Deputy CM post for himself, Nishad downplayed his non-inclusion in the UP government after the Cabinet expansion that took place on September 26. Speaking to the media on September 27, the Nishad Party president said, "The Nishad Party has not been formed for MLC or Rajya Sabha. This party has been formed to raise the voice for the weak who don't have food, clothing and shelter for 70 years. BJP has given a platform to address this issue. I congratulate it".

BJP-SP faceoff in UP polls

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP had 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 some BJP leaders made conflicting statements over Adityanath's future as the Chief Minister, PM Modi put rest to all speculations by lauding UP's governance model during his successive visits to the state.

While Akhilesh Yadav has ruled out forging an alliance with Congress and BSP, he has hinted at allying with his uncle Shivpal Yadav. So far, SP has forged an alliance with Mahan Dal and Rashtriya Lok Dal. Speaking exclusively to Republic TV on October 31, he exuded confidence in SP winning 400 seats in the UP polls.