JDU gearing up to contest 200 Assembly seats in UP
New Delhi: With the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) aspiring to be a party of national importance, the key ally of BJP in Bihar may put the saffron party in a tizzy in Uttar Pradesh as the JDU is planning to field its candidates at about 200 seats in the upcoming Assembly polls, which is due in early next year.
According to party insiders, the JDU would seek votes in the name of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The JDU has chalked out its strategy to contest on about 200 Assembly seats and the party has also identified all the 200 Assembly seats to pit its candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls.
"Given that Nitish Kumar has a huge fan following among the people belonging to backward communities and minorities, the party is hopeful of getting a significant support in Uttar Pradesh as the state has a sizeable population of OBCs and minorities," a party insider said, adding that the alliance of JDU with BJP is for Bihar only and there is no clause in the alliance document that prohibits the party from contesting elections in any other BJP-ruled state.
Most of the Assembly seats identified by the JDU are in the districts that share borders with Bihar such as Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Deoria, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli and Sonbhadra. Besides, the JDU may also field its candidates from Assembly seats in Azamgarh district and Varanasi.
The decision of JDU is not all of a sudden as the party is aiming to tap the 32-35 per cent non-Yadav OBC vote bank, which would play a decisive role in forming the government. The JDU is also hopeful of getting a significant percentage of Muslim vote share, which is 19 per cent of the state's population.
On the issue, the JDU's Parliamentary Board chairman Upendra Kushwaha said, "Several prominent leaders of JDU have been tasked to visit the state to strengthen the party units and infuse a spirit among the party workers. The party will seek votes in the name of Kumar as most of the common people are very happy with the work of Bihar CM, who is an undisputed leader." Notably, Kushwaha has merged his RLSP with JDU.
