Lucknow, Nov 1 (PTI) BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) will hold a one-day national convention here on Friday to elect its national president, a party statement has said.
Union Minister of State Anupriya Patel, who took over as the party chief from her husband Ashish Patel in 2019, is likely to be re-elected, according to sources. Apna Dal (S) has a three year presidential term.
“The meet will be held at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in the state capital on November 4 during which the election will be held,” party spokesman Rajesh Shrivastava said in a statement on Tuesday.
Anupriya Patel, Ashish Patel, who is also a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, and all office-bearers of the party will attend the convention, he said.
Apna Dal (S) is a part of the Union government as well as the Yogi Adityanath ministry in Uttar Pradesh.
Founded by influential OBC Kurmi leader Sonelal Patel in 1995, the party later broke into two factions–Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (Kamerawadi).
The Apna Dal (K) is headed by Sonelal’s wife and Anupriya Patel’s mother Krishna Patel. It is part of the Samajwadi Party-led opposition coalition in Uttar Pradesh. Anupriya’s elder sister Pallavi Patel is an Apna Dal (K) MLA.
The Apna Dal (S) has two Lok Sabha MPs, including Anupriya Patel, and 12 MLAs in the current 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly and one MLC.
It is currently the third-largest party in the House after the BJP and the SP.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had in August recognised Apna Dal (S) as a state-level political party, upgrading it from a registered (unrecognised) political outfit. This will be its first election after getting the new recognition. PTI AR SNS SNS CJ CJ
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