Nishad Party finds itself in an awkward situation in UP

Lucknow, April 12 Uttar Pradesh Minister Sanjay Nishad has got what he wanted but not how he wanted it.

His son Praveen Nishad has been named as the BJP candidate from Sant Kabir Nagar for the second consecutive term.

The BJP has also named Vinod Bind, a Nishad Party MLA, as the BJP candidate from Bhadohi.

However, the BJP has refused to give a seat to the Nishad party, headed by Sanjay Nishad, to contest on its own symbol.

“It was necessary to have a lawyer for the Nishad Party in Lok Sabha. Praveen Nishad is an MP but he belongs to the BJP,” said Sanjay Nishad.

While the BJP has given one seat, Ghosi, to the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and has earmarked two seats for the Apna Dal, it is the Nishad Party that has been left out in the cold.

Interestingly, while Sanjay Nishad was nominated to the Vidhan Parishad by the BJP in 2021 and subsequently made minister, his son Parveen Nishad won the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat in a bypoll on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2018.

In the 2019 general elections, after announcing its alliance with the Samajwadi Party, the Nishad party walked out of it and sided with the BJP on whose ticket, Praveen won the Sant Kabir Nagar seat the same year.

His younger son, Srawan Nishad, was elected to the state Assembly in 2022 from Chauri Chaura on a BJP ticket.

Therefore, with both his sons in the BJP technically, Sanjay Nishad is in no position to demand his share from the BJP.

The BJP has left five seats for its allies -- two each for Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Apna Dal (S) and one for SBSP.

About his demand for reservation for the riverine community, Nishad said, “It is being seen. You can get a reaction from a government spokesperson.”

Sanjay Nishad, 56, began his political career by founding little-known organisations like All India Backward and Minorities Welfare Mission and Shakti Murti Mahasangram and then formed Nishad Ekta Parishad.

He founded the Nishad Party in 2013 and became MLA from Gyanpur in Bhaduria in 2017.

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