Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel said on Friday that her party was ready to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance if they made such an offer. This comes a day after the Apna Dal (K) snapped ties with the Samajwadi Party and announced its decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its own. The Apna Dal (K) announced that it would contest from Mirzapur, Phulpur and Kaushambi Lok Sabha constituencies. Interestingly, the sitting MP from Mirzapur is Pallavi Patels estranged sister and Union Minister Anupriya Patel who heads the Apna Dal (Sonelal). There are no talks with the NDA right now. If an offer comes then our organisation will consider it, she said on Friday. SP president, Akhilesh Yadav had said on Thursday that the alliance between the Apna Dal (K) and Samajwadi Party was for the 2022 UP assembly polls and not the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Pallavi Patel said, Akhilesh Yadav is confused; all PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) votes are not his. He has only 35 per cent votes with him. If there is an alliance then we should have talked about it. It may be recalled that Pallavi Patel had won the 2022 UP assembly election on the Samajwadi Party symbol from Sirathu, defeating Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The differences between the SP and its ally have been playing out in public for some time. First, Apna Dal (K) leader and SP MLA Pallavi Patel refused to vote for two SP candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls in February, saying that the SP had ignored its own PDA formula in its choice of candidates. She eventually claimed she had voted for the only Dalit among the three SP candidates. Before the 2022 state polls, the SP had formed an umbrella alliance with several smaller parties, including the Apna Dal (K), Jayant Chaudharys Rashtriya Lok Dal, Keshav Dev Mauryas Mahan Dal, and Om Prakash Rajbhars Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party. The RLD and the SBSP have deserted SP to join the BJP-led NDA, while the Mahan Dal has offered support to the Bahujan Samaj Party, leaving the SP with just the Apna Dal (K). The Apna Dal (K) is a faction of the Apna Dal founded by Other Backward Class leader Dr Sonelal Patel, who died in a road accident in 2009. The other faction – BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) – is headed by Krishna Patels other daughter Anupriya, who is a Union minister and the MP from Mirzapur. In 2019, the BJP had won all the three seats claimed by the Apna Dal (K) this year, with Vinod Sonkar winning from Kaushambi by 38,722 votes against SPs Indrajit Saroj, Keshari Devi Patel winning from Phulpur by 1.77 lakh votes against SPs Pandhari Yadav, and Anupriya Patel winning from Mirzapur by 2.32 lakh votes, defeating the SPs Ram Charitra Nishad. While the Apna Dal (K) had not contested any seat in the 2022 UP assembly polls, its senior leader Pallavi Patel, contesting on SP ticket, had defeated Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya by 7,337 votes. The Apna Dal (K) claims influence among Kurmi (OBC) voters across the state, and among Muslims in eastern and central UP, especially in the Varanasi, Prayagraj and Mirzapur divisions, with its hold overlapping with that of its rival faction Apna Dal (Sonelal).

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