Lucknow, Feb 2 (PTI) The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday declared Union minister Anupriya Patel’s sister Pallavi Patel and former UP Cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya in the Yogi Adityanath government among three new candidates for the state assembly polls.
Former UP minister Abhishek Mishra in the Akhilesh Yadav government was declared the third candidate.
Patel, Maurya and Mishra will be fielded respectively on Fazilnagar seat in Kushinagar district, Sirathu in Kaushambi and Sarojini Nagar in Lucknow assembly seats. The assembly seats in Lucknow district go to polls on February 23, Kaushambi district on February 27 and Kushinagar district on March 3.
Maurya, who quit the Adityanath government within days after the announcement of the assembly poll schedule and joined the SP, was fielded on the Fazilnagar assembly seat in the Kushinagar district.
A five-time MLA, Maurya is currently the sitting MLA from Padrauna in the same district after winning the seat on a BJP ticket in the 2017 assembly elections.
He had been representing Padrauna since 2009, first winning it on a BSP ticket in the assembly bypolls that year and then retaining it in the 2012 elections, before switching over to BJP.
Before 2009, he represented the Dalmau assembly seat, first winning it in 1996 and then retaining it in 2002 as a BSP leader. After delimitation, the Dalmau assembly segment in Rae Bareli district was renamed Sareni.
Asked why was he denied his traditional seat Padrauna and given Fazilnagar instead, Maurya told PTI, “The seat has been decided by the party president keeping various electoral equations in mind.” Asked if the seat was changed under the fear of former Congress leader and ex-Union minister RPN Singh, who recently joined the BJP, Maurya said, “Not at all. And what election will he (RPN Singh) fight? He is not going to contest the polls anyway. Even if he decides to contest, the candidate put up by us will defeat him.” Categorically stating he will “contest from only one assembly seat”, Maurya asserted that his party workers will contest the elections for him.
The SP has fielded Union Minister Anupriya Patel’s sister Pallavi Patel from the Sirathu assembly seat in the Kaushambi district where she will take on UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Pallavi Patel belongs to Apna Dal (Kameravadi) headed by her mother Krishna Patel, who has forged a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
Anupriya Patel heads the Apna Dal (Sonelal), which is an ally of the BJP. The Apna Dal (Sonelal) has currently nine MLAs in the UP legislative assembly, supporting the Yogi Adityanath government.
The SP will be fielding its third candidate Abhishek Mishra, declared on Wednesday, on the Sarojini Nagar seat against BJP’s Rajeshwar Singh.
In the 2017 elections, Mishra had unsuccessfully contested from Lucknow North against a BJP candidate. PTI ABN NAV RAX RAX
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Source: The Print
