No alliance with Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) for Lok Sabha polls: Akhilesh

Lucknow: A day after the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) declared its candidates for three Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it was not in alliance with the Krishna Patel-led outfit for the 2024 general election.

"The alliance between with the Apna Dal (K) and the Samajwadi Party was for the 2022 Assembly polls and not the 2024 elections," Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav told news persons here in response to a question.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) announced its candidates for the Phulpur, Mirzapur and Kaushambi Lok Sabha seats.

In a press statement, the party said, "A meeting of the Apna Dal (K) central executive committee was held under national president Krishna Patel. It has been decided in the meeting to contest three seats as part of the INDIA bloc."

Asked about the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) announcing its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said, "The SP had tied up with Apna Dal (K) in the Assembly elections; there was no talk with them for the general elections."

The SP has named Rajendra S Bind as its candidate for the Mirzapur seat.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have decided on a seat-sharing arrangement, according to which the Congress will contest 17 seats and the Samajwadi Party will field its candidates on 63 seats.

The Samajwadi Party has given the Bhadohi seat to its INDIA bloc partner Trinamool Congress.

The Apna Dal(K) contested the 2022 assembly polls in alliance with the SP, with its candidate Pallavi Patel contesting on an SP ticket.

The rift between the SP and the Apna Dal came into the open during the recent Rajya Sabha election with Pallavi Patel insisting that she will only vote for the PDA candidate of the Samajwadi Party Ramaji Lal Suman.

The Mirzapur seat is represented by Union minister and Apna Dal (Sonelal) chief Anupriya Patel. The Phulpur and Kaushambi Lok Sabha seats have BJP MPs at present.

The Samajwadi Party nominees had come second in all the three seats in the 2019 general election.