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Nitish and co set to rev up bid on UP seats in a big way
The JD (U) hopes to ride on the charisma of Nitish Kumar and will focus on those assembly seats in UP that are located in districts bordering Bihar
The Janata Dal (United), an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has decided to give momentum to its election campaign in Uttar Pradesh with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and other top party leaders set to hold virtual public meetings in various UP assembly constituencies.
Implementation of prohibition law in Uttar Pradesh, like in Bihar, will be the top poll agenda of JD (U) in the UP assembly election.
JD (U) state unit president Anup Singh Patel said senior JD (U) leader and Union steel minister RCP Singh held several rounds of talks with Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, BJP national president JP Nadda and BJP UP in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan but there was no positive response from the BJP leadership. So, the party leadership decided to go solo in Uttar Pradesh assembly election, he said.
The JD (U) has already announced candidates on 20 assembly seats in the districts located in east and central UP, including Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mirzapur, Sonbhadara, Unnao, Prayagraj, Auraiya, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar, Jaunpur, Deoria, Kanpur Dehat, Pratapgarrh, Amethi and Lucknow.
JD (U) has decided to field candidates on seats in which it has strong organisational network.
“We have identified 50 assembly seats in various districts. Candidates on the remaining 30 seats will be announced soon,” Patel said.
A large number of BJP and Congress leaders are joining the JD (U) and the party will field these leaders on the seats in which they enjoy considerable influence.
The JD (U) will focus on the assembly seats located in districts bordering Bihar. The party hopes to ride on the charisma of Nitish. “We will make inroads into the support base of BJP, SP and BSP in the east UP. The JD (U) has urged the central government to set up a special economic zone in the region and give limited state status to eastern UP,” he said.
The JD (U) has released its list of 15-star campaigners for UP. It includes Nitish, RCP Singh, national president of JD (U) Lallan Singh, JD (U) national general secretary KC Tyagi and former union minister Upendra Kushwaha.
Nitish will address virtual public meetings in various assembly segments and other senior leaders of the party will campaign in UP, he said.
Along with prohibition, the JD (U) will raise the demand of caste census in UP, legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) of the crops, withdrawal of cases against farmers during their agitation, ban on the sale of profit-making public sector units, among others,” Patel said.
BJP MLA joins JD(U)
BJP MLA from Bairiya assembly seat in Ballia district Surendra Singh on Sunday announced to join JD (U) after he was a denied ticket by the BJP.
On Monday Singh said he was meeting his supporters to decide his next move. “I will contest the assembly election from Bairiya seat and announce a decision on Tuesday,” he said.
Sources said Singh has also received offer from Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, led by Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raj Bhaiya, to contest on its ticket.
