Shivpal Singh Yadav, the Founder of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) [PSP (L),] on the 19th of March, launched a third front to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP.)
The political front, named the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA,) consists of members from parties such as the Peace Party, led by Krishna Patel, and the Apna Dal, led by Mohammad Ayub, in Uttar Pradesh.
The political front was formed after the Indian National Congress (INC) declined to form a pre poll alliance with the PSP (L.) The PSP (L) finally decided to launch a political front against the grand alliance of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP,) the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the INC.
Shivpal Singh said, “Our aim is to stop the BJP from coming to power in the upcoming polls because both the Central and State Government have sidelined youth, farmers and people belonging to minority communities. Our party has decided to form an alliance with Peace Party, Apna Dal, Rashtriya Krantikaari Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha elections. We will be contesting from 79 out of 80 seats in UP.”
Speaking about the seats, the PSP (L) said, the PDA will contest a total of 79 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Shivpal Singh and Krishna Patel met Rahul Gandhi, the President of the INC, and proposed to form an alliance.
The INC rejected the proposal of the alliance, but left 2 seats in Uttar Pradesh for the Apna Dal, claiming it as mutual understanding.
Confident about securing a majority of seats in UP, Shivpal Singh Yadav said, “We are still hopeful that better sense would prevail on these parties if they are really serious to prevent the BJP from coming back to power again.”
The main agenda of all the opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh is to prevent the BJP from coming back to power.
Apart from announcing the political front, Singh also launched the first list of the 31 candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh will contest a total of 80 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, which are divided into 7 phases. The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held on the 11th of April, 18th of April, 23rd of April, 29th of April, 6th of May, 12th of May and 19th of May.
The major parties contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh are the grand alliance of the BSP and SP, the BJP and the INC.
The results of the Lok Sabha elections will be announced on the 23rd of May 2019.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Lok Sabha elections.