Brahmin leader who left Congress named LJP’s UP unit chief

Weeks after changes in SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act became a bone of contention between Dalits and upper castes, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Monday appointed a Brahmin leader, Mani Shankar Pandey, as chief of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit.

Pandey was holding the vice-president post in Uttar Pradesh Congress unit and resigned last month, accusing the top leadership of ignoring the state unit and focusing only on clinching power at the Centre. He has earlier been an office bearer in NSUI and Congress Seva Dal.

“There is disappointment in the Congress cadre in UP. The party is struggling to get two-three seats in alliance for the Lok Sabha elections,” Pandey said at the LJP office in Delhi Monday.

Union Minister and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan said that BSP chief Mayawati only does politics of one caste only but LJP is the party of all the sections. LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan said the party wants to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2022 Assembly polls as an NDA ally.