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Cong, Apna Dal finalise deal in Uttar Pradesh
The Apna Dal (Krishna Patel faction) will contest from two parliamentary constituencies – Pilibhit and Gonda, the Congress announced. Pankaj Niranjan Singh Chandel, the son-in-law of Patel, joined the Congress in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Patel was also present there.
The Congress on Saturday finalised a seat-sharing agreement with the Apna Dal led by Krishna Patel and allocated it two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party announced a pact with Patel’s daughter Anupriya, who heads another faction of the party and has been a National Democratic Alliance partner.
The Apna Dal (Krishna Patel faction) will contest from two parliamentary constituencies – Pilibhit and Gonda, the Congress announced. Pankaj Niranjan Singh Chandel, the son-in-law of Patel, joined the Congress in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Patel was also present there.
Krishna Patel’s daughter and Union minister Anupriya Patel, who leads the Apna Dal (Sonelal), has tied up with the BJP on Friday. BJP president Amit Shah announced the agreement on Twitter, saying that Apna Dal (S) leader and Union minister Anupriya Patel would contest from Mirzapur again.
The Apna Dal is popular among Kurmis, an Other Backward Class group in the Varanasi-Mirzapur region, Bundelkhand and in the districts of central UP. The party has been split since the victories in two seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, with Anupriya and Krishna heading factions each.
