Nishad, Patel to be SP candidates from Gorakhpur, Phulpur

Pravin Nishad will be the Samajwadi Party candidate for the upcoming Gorakhpur bypoll while Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel would contest the Phulpur Lok Sabha byelection, the Akhilesh Yadav led party said today. While Yadav himself declared Nishad's name, Patel's candidature was announced hours later at a meeting of party office bearers. "Pravin Nishad is the son of Sanjay Nishad, who is the president of Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD party). Pravin today also became the member of SP. From Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel has been named as SP's candidate. Patel has been a member of SP's state executive," SP secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI. Earlier in the day, SP chief Yadav said, Praveen Nishad would be his party's candidate from Gorakhpur. NISHAD chief Sanjay Nishad and Dr Mohd Ayub (president of Peace Party) had already announced their decision to contest the bypoll along with the SP. The Congress has already declared its candidates for both the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats which go to polls on March 11. Asked about the future of the Congress-SP alliance as both parties were contesting the polls separately, Yadav said "Our main aim is to defeat communal forces." We will appeal to the people of Gorakhpur to support those who fighting for the truth, he said. "Last year, hundreds of innocent children lost their lives due to shortage of oxygen, but the government did not take any step. Now even an incident of fire has been reported from the office of the principal of the (BRD) college, and all important evidences have been burnt," he alleged. Yadav claimed that the people were feeling "harassed owing to the lies of the BJP" and exuded confidence that his party would emerge trumps in the bypolls. "We will take their election manifestos of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls to the people. We will hold discussions to bring out the truth. They had earlier confused the people with 'chai pe charcha', and now they are planning to confuse with 'pakoda'," Yadav said, taking a dig. Continuing his attack, Yadav alleged that farmers were dying under the burden of loans. Apparently referring to the Nirav Modi swindle, Yadav alleged that under the BJP rule, "people are showing plans on paper to nationalised banks, and fleeing from the country after pocketing crores". "When I distributed laptops, BJP poeple said that all of them were given to Yadavs and Muslims. The expressway, Lucknow metro was built by us, but BJP termed us as those belonging to backward class. While they won the polls claiming to be forward...I don't know how to speak lies," he alleged.