Lok Sabha polls: Samajwadi Party calls off alliance with Apna Dal (K), its sole remaining ally from 2022

The statement by the SP Chief came a day after Apna Dal (Kameravadi) announced candidates from three Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party called off its ties with Apna Dal (Kameravadi) on Thursday amid the differences between the alliance partners that had been playing out in public for a long time. Responding to a media inquiry on Thursday, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said, "We were in alliance with Apna Dal (Kameravadi) in the 2022 Assembly polls but it is not in 2024."

The statement by the SP Chief came a day after Apna Dal (Kameravadi) announced candidates from three Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Apna Dal (K) had announced that it would field three candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The seats were Phoolpur, Mirzapur and Kaushambi in eastern Uttar Pradesh, all won by the BJP in 2019.

The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday evening too announced six nominees, including a candidate for Mirzapur, which the Apna Dal (K) had claimed for itself. Rift between the two parties came to the fore when Apna Dal (K) leader and SP MLA Pallavi Patel refused to vote for two SP candidates in the February Rajya Sabha polls, saying that the SP had ignored its own PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpasankhyak) formula in its choice of candidates. She eventually claimed she had voted for the only Dalit among the three SP candidates.

The Apna Dal (K) is a faction of the Apna Dal founded by OBC leader Dr Sonelal Patel, who died in a road accident in 2009. The other faction--BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) -- is headed by Krishna Patel's other daughter Anupriya, who is a Union minister and the MP from Mirzapur. Before the 2022 state polls, the SP had formed an umbrella alliance with several smaller parties, including the Apna Dal (K), Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Keshav Dev Maurya's Mahan Dal, and Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

The RLD and the SBSP have deserted to join the BJP-led NDA, while the Mahan Dal has offered support to the BSP. (ANI)

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