Smaller parties too step up outreach ahead of UP polls

As leading parties have already hit the ground in Uttar Pradesh, smaller parties too have stepped up their outreach ahead of the assembly elections.

Nishad Party leader and UP minister Sanjay Nishad held a public meeting at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday. During the meeting, Nishad warned the BJP that his party would remain in the alliance only if the BJP delivered on its promise of reservation for the Nishad community. He also said no party could win an election in and around Gorakhpur without the support of the Nishad Party.

However, sources in the BJP told ET that Nishad was merely arm-twisting the party to secure more seats in the pre-election seat-sharing arrangement.


Azad Samaj Party leader and MP Chandra Shekhar Azad is trying to establish his party as an alternative to the BSP. He has announced a rally at Ramabai Ambedkar Ground in Lucknow on Monday, October 26. Azad has booked the ground for three days.

The ground, which has a capacity of more than one lakh people, was once a regular venue for BSP leader Mayawati's rallies, which drew full houses. Azad is trying to replicate that success.

He is also in alliance talks with Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM. If the talks are finalised, an announcement could be made at Monday's rally. The ASP has already announced candidates for 87 assembly constituencies. Like the BSP, it is also appointing assembly in-charges who later become party candidates. Apna Dal (S), led by Union minister Anupriya Patel, has started holding workers' meetings in the Purvanchal and Awadh regions. UP minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party leader Om Prakash Rajbhar is also planning a tour of the entire state ahead of the elections.