Bihar-based parties set to try luck in 2022 UP assembly elections
Their leaders are holding meetings in various regions of Uttar Pradesh to mobilise the party workers for the assembly election due early next year
The 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are going to see an array of Bihar-based political parties flexing their muscles, and the preparations are already afoot with these parties activating their organisation and cadre in the state.
Leaders of the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) are holding meetings in various regions of Uttar Pradesh to mobilise the party workers for the assembly election due early next year.
LJP MP from Jamui in Bihar Chirag Paswan, who is locked in a tussle with uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras over party control, will launch a road show, Ashirwad Yatra, across Uttar Pradesh after August 15 to mobilise the party workers.The yatra is along the lines of a similar roadshow Paswan is holding in Bihar.
He will meet Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow during the yatra. The LJP had earlier contested assembly elections in UP in 2007 and 2012 under the leadership of party founder Ram Vilas Paswan.
In the first phase, the Ashirwad Yatra will be organised in Ballia, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Lucknow, Shahjhanpur, Bareilly, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Meerut and Ghaziabad, LJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit president Mani Shankar Pandey said.
Paswan launched the Ashirwad Yatra at Vaishali in Bihar on July 5 to mark the birth anniversary of his father late Ram Vilas Paswan.
The JD(U) that is running the government in Bihar in alliance with the BJP has announced it will field candidates on 200 seats in the 2022 UP assembly election. JD (U) state president said the party had decided to contest the assembly election on its own strength.
“The district unit presidents have been directed to strengthen the organisation and hold a membership drive across UP,” he said.
Meanwhile HAM(S) leader Santosh Suman Manjhi, who is a minister in the Bihar government, met chief minister Yogi Adityanath this Monday. “The Hindustani Awam Morcha (S) has decided to contest assembly elections in UP in alliance with the BJP. My party enjoys influence over the Manjhi, Machua and Kewat communities settled in eastern UP,” he said.
The VIP, led by Bihar animal husbandry minister Mukesh Sahani, sought to make its presence felt in Uttar Pradesh by organising programmes in various districts to mark the death anniversary of bandit-turned politician Phoolan Devi on July 25. Sahani said VIP will field candidates on various seats in the coming assembly election and “fight for the rights of and justice to the suppressed communities”.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s meeting with SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Delhi on Monday has set off a buzz about their alliance for the coming assembly elections.
The RJD supported the SP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav will campaign in support of the SP in the assembly election, said an RJD leader who did not wish to be named.
Political observer SK Singh said the BJP and SP are working to build an alliance of the smaller political parties that have an influence over various communities in the run-up to the assembly election.
“Caste is an important factor in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Political parties are wooing the caste leaders to win the support of various communities,” he said.
