After meeting Amit Shah, UP's Nishad Party announces support to BJP

Lucknow: The Nishad Party which claims influence in 160 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh takes another expected U-turn and has announced his 'full support' to the BJP in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Sanjay Nishad, the Chief of the party met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda in Delhi on Saturday evening and later he communicated his decision to the media.

"The Nishad community is committed to form a government with the BJP in 2022 to restore its lost glory," he said.

He said that he has also asked the BJP to restore the rights of Nishads on ponds and water bodies in every gram sabha.

He also informed that more such meetings would be held in future. Sanjay's son Praveen, currently the BJP MP from Sant Kabir Nagar in eastern Uttar Pradesh, too, was present at the meeting.

Earlier Nishad had met chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in Lucknow on June 23.

"In 2007, the Mayawati government changed the provision. The government should restore it," he said.

He also demanded withdrawal of cases filed against Nishads in Agra, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur and Ghazipur during agitations.

This was Nishad's second meeting with the Union home minister after the one in June in which he had sought a union cabinet berth for his son Pravin, who is a BJP MP. When his son was not included in the union cabinet, he publicly aired his disappointment with the BJP.

As the BJP in UP has delayed announcing names of four candidates for MLCs, Sanjay Nishad is expecting that his party would bag one of these nominations, says a Hindustan Times report. Quoting party leaders, the report added that there is no clarity yet on whether the Adityanath government would opt for a reshuffle-cum- expansion in his cabinet as months ahead of the elections.

Quoting leaders, the report also added that Sanjay Nishad is one among the claimants if there were to be any cabinet expansion in coming months.

Sanjay Nishad responded to Hindustan Times saying "dekhiye (let's see)" when asked on the likelihood of his becoming an MLC or a minister in UP.

"We discussed 2022 UP polls and also discussed the political and constitutional 'hissedari' (share) of Nishads in governance," he was quoted saying according to the report.

In 2018 Lok Sabha by-polls, Sanjay Nishad's son Praveen Nishad had stunned the BJP by winning the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, however, the BJP wooed the Nishad party and Praveen won the Sant Kabir Nagar seat on the BJP ticket.