Summary:
Lucknow, Jul 11 (PTI) Samajwadi Party ally Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) on Monday said they were invited to the recent meeting with opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha, an indication that the party might go with the alliance in the election.
Apna Dal (K) senior leader Pallavi Patel said they would make public their decision on the July 18 presidential election after a party meeting after three or four days.
"I was informed about the meeting (with Sinha), but could not attend it, since I was admitted to a hospital." Patel, the MLA from Sirathu, told PTI.
The 41-year-old Patel, is recuperating after being discharged from a Lucknow hospital on July 9 where she was admitted on July 5 due to sudden deterioration of health.
When asked about the party"s decision on whom to vote in the upcoming presidential election, Patel said, "No meeting has been held so far in the party in this context.
I will rest for the next three or four days, and only after that will any meeting be held to make a decision on the issue." Pallavi Patel, estranged sister of Union minister Anupriya Patel, is though an Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader, but she had won the recent assembly election against Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on an SP ticket from Sirathu seat in Kaushambi district.
Apna Dal (K) had some differences with the SP in seat-sharing during February-March Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, but after the election there has been no report of the party expressing any complaint against Akhilesh Yadav, who is leading the opposition camp.
During a press conference at the Samajwadi Party (SP) headquarters in Lucknow last week, opposition"s presidential candidate Sinha was flanked by party chief Akhilesh Yadav and RLD president Jayant Chaudhary, but no other ally of the opposition was present on the occasion.
Last week, when Pallavi Patel and her mother Krishna Patel were deprived of the venues they had booked for celebrating the birth anniversary of Sonelal Patel in the state capital, the SP supremo had attacked the state government on the issue.
Even though some opposition camp leaders like Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar and Shivpal Yadav had attended the dinner hosted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in support of NDA"s Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, none from the Apna Dal (K) broke ranks.
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