Local Parties Hope To Leave A Mark In 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls
Regional outfits in UP are revising strategies for 2022 buoyed by the performance of local parties in Bihar.
Buoyed by the performance of smaller parties in the Bihar Assembly elections, some regional and local outfits in Uttar Pradesh are likely to revise their strategy for the 2022 state assembly polls to prove that ‘small is big’.
These outfits representing Dalit and backward classes are having a re-look at their electoral stand after the recent bye-elections to seven UP Assembly seats showed that split in non-BJP votes ultimately benefited the ruling saffron party.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav intends to forge an alliance with smaller parties, which includes Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), the outfit floated by his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav, who in turn has given a positive response.
The SP had tied up with the Congress in the 2017 UP assembly polls and with the BSP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls but failed to halt the BJP juggernaut.
The SP might have a local tie-up with Rashtriya Lok Dal and Mahan Dal in western UP, party sources said. In the 2012 UP assembly polls, over 200 registered parties had fielded their candidates, while in 2017 their were some 290 parties vying for electoral laurels.
The BJP had tied up with Apna Dal (S) headed by Anupriya Patel and Shuheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party led by Om Prakash Rajbhar keeping in mind their clout among Kurmi and extremely backward classes respectively. BJP legislator and UP vice president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the party has cordial ties with its allies and the bonds will get stronger in the days to come.
Sources in Congress too said that the party was toying with the idea of forging an electoral alliance with smaller parties for the 2022 UP assembly polls. The political front of Chandrashekhar Azad's Bhim Army party - Azad Samaj Party (Kashiram) - besides Owaisi's All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party, Qaumi Ekta Dal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and Peace Party headed by Mohammed Ayub are also likely to jump in the fray in the UP assembly polls in 2022.