BJP finalised the seat-sharing deal with Apna Dal for the national elections!

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday finalised the seat-sharing deal with Apna Dal (Sonelal) for the national elections, weeks after the ally threatened to quit the National Democratic Alliance.

BJP National President said the Apna Dal (Sonelal) will contest in two parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Apna Dal-S leader and Union Minister Anupriya Patel will fight from Mirzapur. The allies are yet to take a decision on the other seat, Mr Shah said.

“With the aim to bring back the Modi government, we will contest the national elections with Apna Dal in UP,” Mr Shah tweeted.

Apna Dal-S had won two seats in Uttar Pradesh – Pratapgarh and Mirzapur – in 2014 elections.

Anupriya Patel last month had accused the BJP of “not taking care of its allies”. “It mainly appears they are not interested in taking care of their allies,” she had said. Her party was “free to take its own decisions” regarding the national elections, she had also quipped.

Apna Dal-S President Ashish Patel, Anupriya’s husband held talks with Mr Shah later to iron out differences. He had stressed on “appointment of Dalits” in police force in UP, among other issues, at a meeting last month.

“Our party mainly demanded appointment of Dalits and people belonging to backward communities in 50 per cent police stations of the state, besides giving either DM or SP post in districts to these category officers. Our party workers should also be considered in appointment in various state corporations,” he had said at that time, underlining the party’s concern that its suggestions were not being heeded by the BJP and it felt ignored.

Ms Patel, in a tweet on Friday, thanked Mr Shah and said the two parties had settled all the differences. “We will fight with all our might so that Narendra Modi can be elected again,” Ms Patel asserted.

The Apna Dal (Sonelal) is a breakaway faction of the Apna Dal, which was founded in 1995 by Sone Lal Patel. The Apna Dal (Sonelal) was founded by Jawahar Lal Patel, who was also a founding member of the Apna Dal. The Apna Dal has claimed support among the non-OBC communities such as the Kurmis.

The BJP, with the national elections just a few weeks away, is aggressively welcoming new members to the party and sealing deals with allies. Tom Vadakkan, a senior Congress leader and a close aide of Sonia Gandhi, joined the party on Thursday. Earlier this week, the Bengal unit of BJP welcomed to its fold three senior leaders from rival parties – Bolpur lawmaker Anupam Hazra from Trinamool Congress, Congress’s Dulal Chandra and CPM’s Khagen Murmu.