INDIA bloc should clarify if we are part of it or not: Apna Dal (K)

Asked if she would resign as MLA, Patel said, “I am not an MLA of the Samajwadi Party. I am an MLA of Apna Dal’s alliance. However, SP has the right to ask for my resignation and expel me.”

Expressing displeasure over not being given any seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Apna Dal (K) on Friday said that INDIA bloc leaders should clarify if it was still part of the alliance or not. Pallavi Patel’s statement came the day after the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav disowned Apna Dal (K) as an ally for the 2024 LS polls.

Pallavi Patel’s statement came the day after the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav disowned Apna Dal (K) as an ally for the 2024 LS polls. (HT File)

Akhilesh on Thursday told reporters that the alliance with Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) was for the 2022 assembly elections and not the Lok Sabha polls.

Akhilesh had made the comments after Apna Dal (K) announced that it will contest three seats in the upcoming elections – Phulpur, Mirzapur and Kaushambi.

Speaking to reporters, Apna Dal (K) MLA Pallavi Patel said, “SP president Akhilesh Yadav and the main party of the INDIA bloc at the national level, Congress, should say what they are going to do with Apna Dal (K). Those who have formed the INDIA bloc should clarify whether we are a part of it or not.” “What happened with Nitish Kumar (JDU leader who quit the INDIA bloc) in Bihar, the same is happening with Rajmata Krishna Patel (Apna Dal - K president) in Uttar Pradesh,” she said.

When asked whether her party would accept any offer from the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), she said, “No proposal has been received, but if it happens, the party will take a decision on it.” Patel stressed that the doors for talks with the INDIA bloc regarding seat sharing are still open.

The Apna Dal (K) said that the party had asked to contest from Mirzapur, Phulpur and Kaushambi Lok Sabha seats under the opposition alliance but it was not given even a single seat.

Asked if she would resign as MLA, Patel said, “I am not an MLA of the Samajwadi Party. I am an MLA of Apna Dal’s alliance. However, SP has the right to ask for my resignation and expel me.”