‘BJP Ignoring Our Issues’: Apna Dal Hints At Walking Out of NDA

Apna Dal will decide its future course of action on 28 February.

File photo of Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel.

(Photo: PTI/ Altered by The Quint)

Apna Dal (S) convener and MoS in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet Anupriya Patel on Thursday, 21 February, hinted at cracks within the NDA. She said the BJP was “not displaying” interest in resolving their issues.

“We had some problems with the BJP and we gave them time till 20 February, but they haven’t provided any solution,” Patel told media on Thursday.

She said no response from BJP’s end indicates that the party does not care about problems of other parties in alliance with it and hence Apna Dal is free to choose its own path.

Speaking to ANI, Patel said:

“We are facing some problems with the BJP and have conveyed it to the top leaders. We had given them time till February, but there has been no response. This shows they are not interested and we are free to choose our own path.”

The party’s national President Ashish Patel, however, stressed that they were still with the NDA and the future course of action will be decided by the end of February.

"We are a part of NDA. We had some issues with Uttar Pradesh BJP, which we had raised in front of the central leadership. However, no action has been taken in that regard. Today, we have decided that a meeting of the core committee of our party will be convened on 28 February and the future course will be decided," Ashish Patel told ANI.

“We honestly want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get re-elected. But for that, the UP BJP has to change its attitude. If our demands are met, we will strongly support the NDA in 2019 elections,” he said.

On the issues between Apna Dal and the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government, he said: "We had demanded that our party workers be given positions in different corporations of the state. They have made around 300 such appointments but none of our workers were given the opportunity."

Ashish added that Apna Dal is not in talks with any other party for an alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking on the Pulwama terror attack, Patel said that this is not the time for blame game and that everyone should come together and support the current government.

Apna Dal Not The Only Party To Give BJP an Ultimatum

Significantly, Apna Dal is not the only alliance partner threatening to walk out of the NDA. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) has also given an ultimatum that it will quit the NDA if its concerns are not addressed, The Indian Express reported.

Sources in the party alleged that their workers were not appointed to UP corporations and boards.

The party’s general secretary had said recently that if SBSP eventually parts ways with the BJP, it can either go with the SP-BJP alliance in the state or the Congress for the elections, the report added.

The two dissenting parties assumes significance as allies could be crucial to the BJP’s electoral calculations in UP, especially if it wants to counter the SP-BSP alliance.

(With inputs from ANI and The Indian Express)