Patna: Mukesh Sahni better known as 'Son of Mallah' in Bihar is all set to try this luck in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election due next year in the state. Being part of the NDA in Bihar, he has decided to contest the UP election and set to field 150 to 160 candidates in the UP election.
However, the political observer opined that the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) contesting the UP election on more than 150 seats is nothing but an attempt to bargain seats from BJP.
He is going to blow the bungle on 2nd July when he will formally launch his party in Uttar Pradesh with an aim to contest the assembly election.
Sahni is currently the animal and fish resources department minister in the cabinet of chief minister Nitish Kumar. Within a very short span of time, He has emerged as the leader of the Mallah community (fisherman) who constitute about 8 percent of Bihar’s population.
At present this community comes under the Extremely Backward Class (EBC), which constitute about 30 percent of Bihar’s population. The biggest vote bank, on which every political party has eagle eyes on it.
“We are going to launch our party VIP in Uttar Pradesh on 2nd July next month in Lucknow. We have been already working on the expansion of the party but that day we will formally launch VIP followed by a media briefing on 3rd July. Our party will contest elections in Uttar Pradesh. We will field candidates on 150 to 160 assembly seats as we have vote banks in almost all the pockets of these assembly constituencies. However, our preparation is going on for all 403 seats of UP," Sahni told the ETV Bharat Bihar Bureau Chief during a telephonic conversation on Saturday.
In 2018, Sahni had organized a mega rally at the historic Gandhi Maidan on the name of Nishad Arakshan Maha Railla in which at least 2 lakh people had gathered on the demand of reservation of the fisherman community. It was the biggest rally called by any solo leader in which so many people had gathered.
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Once again Sahni is flexing his muscle for the UP election and the reason behind eyeing the poll is the 14 percent of UP population dominated by the people of the fisherman community.
Asked about contesting the election in alliance with BJP, Sahni said, “VIP has been doing the homework since 2016 itself and only time will tell whether we will contest the election in alliance with anyone or solo. First of all our only aim is to strengthen the party in UP. In two to three months we will make a decision on any alliance.”
Not only this, to woo the Nishad community, Sahni has also decided to observe the death anniversary of former bandit queen and former MP Phoolan Devi on July 25 across UP. Sahni himself will take part in one such programme which will be organised at Gorakhpur.
There is already a Nishad Party active in Uttar Pradesh and also the alliance partner of BJP which presently has one MLA. The party is led by Sanjay Nishad and his son is a BJP MP from Sant Kabir Nagar.
Asked about the Nishad Party already active in UP, Sahni slammed Sanjay and said that he was not running a political party but a stall.
“Sanjay Nishad is running a stall, not any political party. His party does not have any base in UP. In every election, Sanjay makes compromises with just one seat. It was the opinion of Uttar Pradesh people to launch the VIP party and Son of Mallah has become a brand now. The other political parties will benefit whoever comes with us. It is the only political party in India which fights for the society and alone this party has managed to form the government in one state (read Bihar). More than 15 political parties have already merged in VIP in UP. If Sanjay ji wants to compromise, I will give him one seat from VIP. At least 24 Nishad communities of Uttar Pradesh are with me. Those who want to come with me are most welcome or those who do not are also most welcome,” Sahni asserted.
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Sahni also denied having any talk with the BJP on the issue of alliance in Uttar Pradesh.
In the past also several other political parties of Bihar have tried their luck in the other states during the assembly poll but most of them have performed badly. Going by the track record of the JDU in the other states, the performance was pathetic.
JDU had tried their luck in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh but could not win even a single seat. Earlier even in the Delhi election, all their candidates lost their security deposits last time. This time JDU and HAM both contested the West Bengal poll but their candidates lost badly.
Sahni presently has four MLAs in Bihar supporting the Nitish Kumar government, however much recently he had expressed his anger when no one from the governor quota was made MLC from his party out of 12. His party had contested 3 seats with Mahagathbandhan in the 2019 general election but did not win a single seat, but in 2020, he shifted his loyalty towards NDA ahead of the assembly poll in Bihar.
Political expert Dr Sanjay Kumar opined that Sahni will not get any benefit in the UP election rather it was an attempt to do bargaining with BJP.
“He does not have any political identity in Uttar Pradesh neither having any vote bank. He is only going there to do base based politics. No doubt there is a good chunk of Nishad voters in UP which play pivotal roles in the election. However, when Mukesh Shani has not established himself in Bihar politics, how do you expect him to make any impact in a state like Uttar Pradesh. We have seen how the Bihar based political parties have performed badly in other states,” stressed Dr Sanjay.
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“Fielding more than 150 candidates is nothing but a bargaining tactic with BJP. Shani is doing pressure politics to bargain for a few seats from BJP. Not much, If BJP will give him five seats, he will accept and can make his entry into UP politics the way he did in Bihar. I feel BJP will choose the established leader of the Nishad community of UP instead of Sahni because their stature is bigger than him. If BJP already has a good alternative with a solid vote bank why the saffron party will try their luck on a fledgling bird,” Dr Sanajy stated.
It would be interesting to see how much impact VIP would be able to make in the UP election or else he will succeed in bargaining the desired seats from BJP.
