Nishad party chief wants BJP to project him as deputy CM in 2022 UP assembly polls

He also seeks berths in Union council of ministers, Uttar Pradesh cabinet for his party before the state assembly elections are held

Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (Nishad) party chief Sanjay Nishad on Wednesday demanded that the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) should project him as deputy chief minister in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections to win the support of the backward communities.

The Nishad Party had joined hands with the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. (SOURCED )

Along with a berth in the Union council of ministers, the Nishad party should also be given representation in the state cabinet before the elections, he said.

By doing so, the BJP should send a message to the Majhwar, Kewat, Mallah, Nishad and Bind communities that they would get a share in power, he said. The votes of these communities were decisive in around 160 assembly constituencies in east and central UP, he added.

Sanjay Nishad was in Lucknow on Wednesday to meet chief minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior BJP leaders.

Earlier, on June 10, he met Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda in Delhi to discuss the alliance for the 2022 assembly election. He landed in Lucknow after BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, along with the party’s UP in-charge Radha Mohan Singh, completed two days’ meetings to discuss the election strategy.

Nishad said when his party joined hands with the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP leaders had promised that Majhwar, Kewat and Mallah communities would be included in the list of Scheduled Castes.

Besides, the BJP had promised that fake cases will be withdrawn from the community members, he said.

Even after over two years, the promises had not been fulfilled yet, Nishad said.

The BJP had got a taste of the discontent among the backward communities in the three-tier panchayat elections held in April, he said.

The independents and Opposition parties won the maximum zila panchayat ward seats, he added.

The BJP was aware that it won the 2017 UP assembly election with the support of the backward and Scheduled Caste communities.

Now, the BJP must fulfil its promises to win the confidence of the backward classes, he said.

Launched in 2016, the Nishad party joined an alliance with the BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Sanjay Nishad’s son Praveen Kumar Nishad was elected to the Lok Sabha from Sant Kabir Nagar in eastern Uttar Pradesh. In the 2018 Lok Sabha by-poll, the Nishad party had been in the Opposition camp and it gave a jolt to the BJP by winning the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat. The SP and the BSP had supported the Nishad party in the contest for the prestigious seat vacated by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.