Lucknow: The political landscape in Uttar Pradesh is undergoing significant turbulence as divisions deepen within the opposition INDIA bloc over seat allocation, notably marked by the refusal of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav to accommodate Apna Dal (K) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The fissures within the alliance became starkly evident when Akhilesh Yadav firmly stated that the Samajwadi Party does not have an alliance with Apna Dal (K) for the Lok Sabha elections. The situation escalated further when Yadav rejected the demand from Pallavi Patel's faction of Apna Dal (Kameravadi) for three Lok Sabha seats.
In a succinct declaration issued on Thursday in Lucknow, Akhilesh Yadav emphasized that the alliance with Apna Dal (Kameravadi) was limited to the 2022 assembly elections, effectively ruling out any future collaborations for the forthcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The rift deepened as Pallavi Patel, acting President of Apna Dal (Kameravadi), announced the party's intention to contest three Lok Sabha seats of her preference – Phulpur, Mirzapur, and Kaushambi. However, the SP promptly nominated Rajendra S Bind as their candidate for the Mirzapur constituency, sending a clear signal that Apna Dal (K) had no place within the INDIA Bloc.
Pallavi Patel reiterates demand
Krishna Patel, the national president of Apna Dal (Kameravadi), defended her party’s demand for the three seats, citing their longstanding alliance with the INDIA Bloc. Speaking to this reporter, Pallavi Patel reiterated that her party had already communicated its request for the Phulpur, Mirzapur, and Kaushambi constituencies to the SP months ago, highlighting that these seats fell within the purview of the SP under the existing INDIA bloc. However, SP State President Naresh Uttam Patel responded by stating that no formal communication had been received from Pallavi Patel's camp regarding the matter.
The friction between the SP and Apna Dal (Kameravadi) is not novel, with tensions emerging during the recent Rajya Sabha elections. Pallavi Patel had expressed dissatisfaction over what she perceived as the neglect of PDA (backward, Dalit, minority) interests in candidate selection, leading to a strained exchange with Akhilesh Yadav. Analysts point to unresolved tensions dating back to the 2022 assembly elections as the root cause of the alliance's rupture. Pallavi Patel's insistence on contesting under the Apna Dal (K) symbol clashed with Akhilesh Yadav's insistence on utilizing the SP symbol, resulting in a bitter contest against Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, which Patel ultimately won.
This recent discord represents a departure from past electoral alliances, notably the partnership between Pallavi Patel's faction of Apna Dal and the Congress party during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which ended in defeat for Pallavi Patel's husband, Pankaj Patel, in the Phulpur constituency. As Uttar Pradesh braces for another electoral showdown, the fracture within the INDIA Bloc underscores the complexities of coalition politics and the intricate dynamics at play in one of India's most politically significant states.
