Trouble brews in Samajwadi paradise in UP

There is trouble in Samajwadi paradise in Uttar Pradesh. A day after Swami Prasad Maurya quit his party post and accused the SP of being ‘discriminatory’, the Apna Dal (Kamerwadi) has now expressed its opposition to the SP’s selection of candidates for the Rajya Sabha.

Apna Dal leader and Sirathu MLA, Pallavi Patel, said she will oppose SP's Rajya Sabha nominees.

Patel had won the Assembly election in 2022 on a Samajwadi Party ticket, defeating deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya.

Pallavi questioned the absence of PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and alpsankhyak) among the Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha nominees.

"Where is PDA in Bachchan and Ranjan?" she said in an obvious reference to the candidature of Jaya Bachchan and retired IAS Alok Ranjan to the Upper House.

Pallavi categorically said that she, being an MLA, will oppose the SP’s nominees and abstain from voting, if it takes place.

However, when asked if this will be the end of Apna Dal(K) alliance with the SP, Pallavi said her decision is not about the alliance with SP.

“The decision on alliance will be taken by Apna Dal(K) president Krishna Patel (now known as 'Rajmata'),” she said.

Asked whether her decision meant drifting towards the BJP-led NDA, of which her estranged sister Anupriya Patel is a part, Pallavi said she was against the policies of the BJP.

Sources in Apna Dal said the party was upset because they had expected Akhilesh Yadav to nominate Krishna Patel as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha.

Krishna Patel, sources said, had played a key role in stitching up an OBC alliance for SP in 2022 but could not win elections for herself.

“She rightly deserves being in the Rajya Sabha because she represents the Kurmi community which is second to Yadavs on the OBC platform,” said an Apna Dal(K) leader.

If voting is held for the Rajya Sabha biennial polls in Uttar Pradesh and Patel decides to abstain, SP would be left with 107 MLAs, two short of 109 votes required to see all three candidates through.

However, the SP is confident that with the support of two Congress MLAs and four RLD MLAs -- who were SP members contesting on RLD tickets -- its three candidates will sail to victory.

Meanwhile, SP MLC Swami Prasad Maurya, who resigned as party’s national general secretary on Tuesday, is also said to be upset with the choice of RS candidates.

Though he did not mention this in his lengthy resignation letter, sources close to him said that his view was not accepted by the SP president in selection of candidates.