2017 UP Polls: Not many keen to ally with Nitish Kumar

Till now, Kumar has held at least half-a-dozen rallies in UP. He is scheduled to address another in Kanpur on August 6. Last week, he had attended a rally in Lucknow on the birth anniversary of erstwhile Kolhapur ruler Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj, organised by Bahujan Samaj Swabhiman Sangharsh Samiti of R K Chaudhary – another leader who had parted ways with BSP after Maurya.

Chaudhary, a Dalit leader of Pasi sub-caste with influence in central UP, said he is yet to think on the lines of entering into an alliance with Kumar. “It was an occasion. He is a politician with a clean image. We called him and he came here. We at least showed that there is a possibility of coming together,” he added. At the rally, Kumar and Chaudhary had pledged their support to each other. Kumar had met Chaudhary when he was still in BSP and was considering quitting the party.

Kumar, a Kurmi by caste – one of the most influential OBC groups in UP – does not enjoy visible support from the community in the state. His party had also failed to make any impact in earlier elections in UP. He, however, has been keen on uniting smaller parties to make an impact in the 2017 elections.

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With this in mind, he had also met Krishna Patel – the president of a faction of Apna Dal. Spokesperson of Apna Dal, R B Patel, said: “We have ended our alliance with BJP. Any talks about entering into an alliance with parties of similar ideology, which will give a good number of seats to us, will start after a rally in Varanasi on August 23.”

“Nitish Kumar does not have any base in UP. He does not have a votebank. The last time we contested with him and BJP in 2007, we failed to win any seat,” said Patel.

Kumar had also tried merging Jat leader Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, which has pockets of influence in west UP, with JD(U), but the talks fizzled out.

JD(U) UP president Suresh Niranjan ‘Bhaiyaji’ said they are working on strengthening party organisation in UP and would fight the 2017 elections “with all might”. “Nitishji has held several programmes here. He will come to Kanpur on August 6. He will also hold another rally August, either in Faizabad or Meerut. We have held a programme with R K Chaudhary and we will try to talk to others too,” he added.