SP replaces Qureshi in Moradabad with ex-Mayor

Following a rebellion in the party after announcement of the candidature of meat businessman Haji Nasir Qureshi -- who joined the Samajwadi Party recently -- from Moradabad, the party on Thursday replaced him with S.T. Hassan.

According to party leaders, Qureshi, who had already filed nomination from the Moradabad parliamentary constituency, met SP chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and withdrew his candidature.

Qureshi had joined the SP six months ago after quitting the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The ticket has now been given to former Moradabad Mayor Hasan.

Earlier in the day, the party announced Rambhuyal Nishad as its candidate from Gorakhpur.

The joint SP-BSP candidate Pravin Nishad, son of Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, had won the seat in 2018 bypoll from the high profile seat.

The bypoll for Gorakhpur seat was necessitated after Yogi Adityanath resigned as the member of Parliament to become the Chief Minister.

The SP had given the ticket to Pravin Nishad from Gorakhpur after it stitched an alliance with the Nishad Party and the Peace Party.

However, the Nishad Party, which had announced the alliance with the SP on Tuesday, pulled out of it on Friday.

On the reason for pulling out of the alliance, Sanjay Nishad told IANS: "Mayawati was against the alliance and she does not want our party to rise in the state."

He said the BSP supremo was also not allowing the Nishad Party symbol to be put on hoardings alongside the SP-BSP-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) symbols.

Sanjay Nishad said that even SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was not clear on whether to give tickets to our candidates or not.

Speaking about the party's future, Sanjay Nishad said: "The core committee is holding a meeting today (Saturday) and we will decide whether we will contest alone or in alliance with other parties."

On Friday, Sanjay Nishad met Adityanath and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s state unit chief Mahendra Nath Pandey, fuelling speculation that the Nishad Party could contest in alliance with the saffron party in the state.

To a question if the Nishad Party would repeat the 2018 poll results against the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, he said: "They won the 2018 bypolls after the two lakh voters of the Nishad Party transferred their votes to the SP and the BSP."

He said Rambhuyal Nishad, who was the BSP candidate in the 2014 elections, came in at the third position while the SP's Ramjati Nishad was second.

--IANS

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