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BJP ally Apna Dal names three more candidates for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls
The Apna Dal (S) candidates for these three seats are Dr Saroj Kureel from Ghatampur in Kanpur Nagar district, Ram Niwas Verma from Nanpara in Bahraich district and Dr Surbhi from Kayamganj in Farrukhabad district
Making announcements in a piecemeal manner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) led by Union minister Anupriya Patel has named candidates for three more seats — Ghatampur (reserved), Nanpara and Kayamganj (reserved) — for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
The Apna Dal (S) candidates for these three seats are Dr Saroj Kureel from Ghatampur in Kanpur Nagar district, Ram Niwas Verma from Nanpara in Bahraich district and Dr Surbhi from Kayamganj in Farrukhabad district. All three seats were won by the BJP in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
The Apna Dal (S) had earlier on January 23 named Haider Ali Khan as its candidate for the Swar Tanda seat in Rampur district for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The Samajwadi Party has fielded its heavyweight politician Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam from Swar.
The Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the BJP’s other pre-poll Nishad party are currently engaged in some hard bargain over seat-sharing. The BJP has so far declared 204 candidates. It may also field some alliance candidates on its symbol, party leaders indicated.
The Apna Dal’s Ghatampur candidate Dr Saroj Kureel is a law graduate. She had contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket and lost to the BJP’s Kamal Rani Varun, who later became a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. Kamal Rani Varun’s death due to Covid-19 in 2020 forced the by-poll in which BJP’s Umesh Paswan had won.
By leaving the seat for its ally, the BJP has ended speculation about fielding Kamal Rani’s daughter Swapnil, a zila panchayat adhyaksh (district panchayat chief) on the seat. Kureel is the wife of a retired chief engineer of UP Jal Nigam. She had also contested the 2012 UP polls as a BSP candidate and lost by about 700 odd votes.
“I am thankful to the Apna Dal for fielding me on its ticket,” Kureel said.
The BJP also tactically left the Nanpara assembly seat in Bahraich for its ally. This seat was won by BJP lawmaker Madhuri Verma, a Kurmi OBC candidate, in the 2017 UP polls and who has since joined the main opposition Samajwadi Party.
Apna Dal candidate Ram Niwas Verma, 54, is an arts graduate who was among the leaders considered close to party founder the late Sone Lal Patel. Ram Niwas also is a Kurmi, the second biggest OBC subcaste after Yadavs, who are considered loyal to the Samajwadi Party.
The Apna Dal’s Kayamganj candidate Dr Surbhi, 37, is a passout from the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and a dentist. She had contested on the Samajwadi Party ticket in the 2017 UP polls.
After denying the ticket to its sitting MLA Amar Singh Khatik, apparently due to advancing age, the BJP left the Kayamganj seat for its ally for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
“Such delays do happen because each seat is different from the other,” Apna Dal (S) leader and Union minister Anupriya Patel had said in Lucknow when asked about the delay in announcement of nominees.
The BJP’s other ally Nishad party is confident of getting 15 seats as part of the seat-sharing arrangement though the final arrangement has still not been made public.
While the Apna Dal comprises mainly Kurmis, the Nishad party comprises members of the riverine community, mainly boatmen and fishermen whose strategic presence in several assembly constituency provides them considerable political heft.
