Lucknow: In a setback for Union Minister and Apna Dal (Sonelal) chief Anupriya Patel, the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Kumar Pal has resigned for being “neglected” by the party, accusing Anupriya of deviating from the principles of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar and party ideologue Sonelal Patel in his resignation letter, submitted Tuesday.
Pal, a former MLA from Pratapgarh, told ThePrint that the organisation was being expanded by the party’s top brass without his involvement in the exercise. He said that the party’s state executive was not revived after remaining dissolved for over one year. He also accused Anupriya’s husband and UP cabinet minister, Ashish Patel, of using foul language with party workers.
“I gave my best in the last three years. I was not a selected state president, but an elected one, as I had won our state body polls. I tried to bring democracy into the set-up, but it is a one-man show, or we can say a two-personality show. Ashish and Anupriya run the party. The state chief and other functionaries have no say in the party. I cannot work as a ‘rubber stamp’ anymore,” he told ThePrint..
“The whole party system has been ruined by Ashish Patel. He misbehaves with district-level leaders and workers. Politics is not a corporate job, where one can bear any rubbish thing.”
The party functionaries have denied the charges levelled by Pal. Ashish said, “Pal’s allegations are completely false. He only wanted a ticket for himself from one seat of Pratapgarh, but this time that particular seat was likely to go to the BJP, so he would not be able to contest polls. That is why he decided to resign. If the situation was that bad, what was he doing at the party for so many years?”
ThePrint has, however, learnt that Pal is likely to join the Samajwadi Party. According to a senior functionary in SP, “Pal is in touch with the party’s top leadership. He is likely to get a green signal from there soon, but nothing has been finalised yet.”
Speaking to ThePrint, Pal also praised Pallavi Patel, leader of the faction Apna Dal (Kamerwadi), and sister of Anupriya. “She is more skilled and has struggled a lot more than Anupriya,” he said.
He added, “Anupriya and Ashish captured Sonelal Patel’s legacy, but have not done anything for OBCs (Other Backward Classes). My community, Pal Samaj, has over 20,000 votes in at least 100 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, but they have not done anything for them. I will go where my samaj gets respect. Both SP and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) have a state president from Pal samaj. Other parties should also learn from them.”
The Pal community in Uttar Pradesh is among the most backward caste groups, known as the Gadaria and Baghel castes. The community is dominant in the districts of Brij and Rohilkhand areas of the state. According to Apna Dal (S) functionaries, the key reason behind making Pal a state unit chief was that the party wanted to look beyond the Kurmis, its support base.
However, instead of focusing on organisational activities, Pal was pressuring the party high command to give him an assembly election ticket, they said. “Now, Pal’s allegations have dealt a big blow to the party cadre as complaints of neglect of local leaders are coming up from several district units. It should be addressed by the party high command,” a local leader told ThePrint.
Pal, 61, was formerly with the Bharatiya Janata Party, but in 2019, he won the bypolls on an Apna Dal (S) ticket from the Pratapgarh seat, which had been vacated by Sangam Lal Gupta—who had moved from Apna Dal to BJP—following his election to Lok Sabha in 2019.
In the 2022 assembly polls, when the SP & Apna Dal (K) alliance fielded Krishna Patel (Anupriya’s mother) from that seat, Apna Dal (S) decided not to contest there. The BJP fielded Rajendra Maurya, who won the seat.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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