Lucknow: At present, two sisters are in discussion in the political corridor of UP. One, Apna Dal Sonelal president Anupriya Patel, whose party is a part of the BJP alliance, and her sister Pallavi Patel, who is the national caretaker of Apna Dal 'Kamaravadi'. She recently met Akhilesh Yadav, the national president of the main opposition party of UP, the Samajwadi Party. Know about these important faces in the UP election, in the context of cultivating Kurmi voters:
After the death of Apna Dal founder Sonelal Patel in a road accident on 17 October 2009, the search for a new face for the party ended with his third daughter Anupriya Patel. Anupriya Patel's speech in the tribute meeting itself made her the face of the party. It was not even a month before Anupriya's marriage that she faced the challenge of carrying forward her political legacy.
The party, whose account was not opened in the Lok Sabha, became a participant in the power of the Center in just five years. Graduate from Lady Shri Ram College, MA from Amity and MBA from Kanpur University, Anupriya Patel became the lone MLA of the party from Rohini in Banaras in the 2012 assembly elections. In 2014, BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi elected Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. Due to these three factors youth, women and caste penetration, Anupriya's support in Varanasi and adjoining districts became a political necessity for the BJP.
Apna Dal was given two seats and it took away both. Anupriya Patel became an MP from Mirzapur at the age of 33. She joined the Narendra Modi team as the youngest face in the 2016 cabinet expansion. The growing stature of Anupriya Patel started creating an uncomfortable situation in the family as well as the opposition. Mother and party president Krishna Patel made Anupriya's elder sister Pallavi Patel the national vice-president.
Anupriya opposed this and the tussle ended in the split of the party. In 2016, Anupriya formed Apna Dal (Sonelal). In the 2017 assembly elections, Anupriya's stature increased by winning 9 of the 11 seats she got in alliance with the BJP. In the government, an MLA from the quota of Apna Dal became a minister. Her husband Ashish Singh Patel became MLC in April 2018.
Apna Dal again won two Lok Sabha seats in 2019, but this time Anupriya was not made a minister at the Centre. Now that the assembly elections are near in UP, once again Anupriya Patel's activism is being seen as a pressure strategy to increase the share in the central and state government. Anupriya also knows that her support is still important for BJP to fight for 2022.
Pallavi Patel, the second daughter of Sonelal Patel, who was a big leader of the backward and especially Kurmi community in the politics of UP, has been a student of science. At this time she is understanding the equations of elections in the lab of politics. PG in Bio-Technology Pallavi is one year older than her sister Anupriya Patel. Recently he has completed his doctorate in Vegetable and Fruit Fungus.
Along with this, she is also engaged in clearing the obstacles in the path of her party under the leadership of mother Krishna Patel. Pallavi is the national caretaker of Apna Dal Kameravadi. Along with father Sonelal Patel, she has been coming and going in party programs. She became politically active since 2008. When Sonelal Patel died in 2009, his wife Krishna Patel became the president of Apna Dal and Anupriya was made the national general secretary.
People of Krishna Patel faction say that Pallavi was also active in the organization but she did not have exposure like Anupriya Patel. In 2014, Krishna Patel made Pallavi Patel the vice-president of the party, then Anupriya opposed it. In 2016, the dispute over the party's occupation and division reached the Election Commission. Pallavi Patel took forward the political management of the party led by her mother. In the 2017 assembly elections, candidates were also fielded on 59 seats but without success.
Meanwhile, in 2018, on the pretext of organizing events in the name of Sonelal Patel, Pallavi continued his efforts to increase the party's base among various political parties and voters. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, three candidates were fielded on Congress ticket as an alliance, in which Krishna Patel from Gonda and Pallavi's husband Pankaj Niranjan from Phulpur were candidates, but as the Congress, their performance was also disappointing.
Now before the 2022 assembly elections, Pallavi is once again trying to make the party effective. Her meeting with SP President Akhilesh Yadav recently is being seen as an exercise to find a strong partner in state politics. At present, both the sisters claim about the leadership of about 10 percent Kurmi voters in UP, whose truth will be decided by the public.
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