NISHAD party chief thanks BJP for MLC seat

Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) party president Sanjay Nishad, who had demanded deputy chief minister post but settled with his nomination as an MLC, thanked the BJP on Monday

Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) party president Sanjay Nishad, who had demanded deputy chief minister post but settled with his nomination as an MLC, thanked the BJP on Monday.

It is a big thing, says NISHAD party chief Sanjay Nishad on being nominated for MLC seat (HT photo)

“I am happy that I have been nominated to the Upper House of the state legislature. It’s a big thing. Issues which were not heeded to by the previous governments are being taken up by the BJP dispensation,” Nishad told PTI.

Asked about his demand for deputy CM post, he said, “The BJP has made a tea-seller prime minister of the country. It has recognised works done by me to awaken the Nishad community. Earlier, we used to fight on roads, now I will raise it in the House.”

Nishad had in July said his community wanted to see him as deputy chief minister and had accused BJP of not fulfilling its promise of providing reservation to the Nishad community.

About his demand for reservation, Nishad said, “It is being seen. You can get a reaction from a government spokesperson.” The BJP had last week formally announced that it would contest the 2022 assembly elections in alliance with the Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) party. However, seat-sharing was not disclosed.

The Nishad party emerged in the political scene of the state ahead of the 2017 polls. The next year, Sanjay Nishad’s son Praveen Kumar Nishad wrested the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat in a by-poll on a Samajwadi Party ticket. In the 2019 general elections, after announcing its alliance with Samajwadi Party, the Nishad party walked out of it and sided with the BJP and on whose ticket Praveen won the Sant Kabir Nagar seat.

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 NISHAD party in 2013.