LUCKNOW: Putting to rest speculations of a possible rift between Samajwadi Party and its alliance partner Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), the latter on Monday announced that its leader Pallavi Patel would file her nomination from Sirathu assembly seat taking on BJP nominee deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in the 2022 Assembly polls.
Leaders of the two parties said she would contest on an SP ticket.
Pallavi Patel happens to be the sister of Union minister Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (Sonelal) who happens to be a part of the ruling BJP-led national democratic alliance (NDA) at the centre. Her candidature on SP ticket has made the electoral fight interesting on Sirathu seat which has a sizeable number of Patel voters.
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"Pallavi Patel will file her nomination from Sirathu seat on Tuesday morning," said Pankaj Niranjan, the national general secretary of AD (K), TOI. He said she would contest on SP's election symbol - the bicycle. "Our other candidates including the Apna Dal (K) chief Krishna Patel, will contest on their own party election symbol," he said, adding that during discussions between Akhikesh Yadav and Pallavi Patel, it was agreed upon that Apna Dal (K) has influence over around 10 assembly seats and the party workers will now make sure that their alliance with SP yields results.
"I had said it before and I am saying it again. Our primary objective is to defeat the BJP. Everything else including the issue of seat sharing is not relevant at the moment. These things can be taken care of later on," he said.
Earlier, Apna Dal (K) had expressed concern over seat-sharing with the SP and has announced that it will not go ahead with the nomination of Pallavi Patel till things are cleared after a meeting with the SP chief. On Monday, Akhilesh yadav and Pallavi patel discussed the issue after which she announced that she would file her nomination on Tuesday. Apna Dal (K) was apparently peeved over not being given any clarity by its alliance partner over seat-sharing arrangements between the two.
The trouble began after Apna Dal (K) held a press conference earlier this month in Lucknow where they listed seven seats on which they would like to contest from as alliance nominees. The list included Allahabad (West) Assembly seat as well. However, a day after the press conference, SP named Amarnarh Maurya as its candidate for the seat.
