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How a mother-daughter war will help the BJP in UP

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Piyush Srivastava
Piyush SrivastavaNov 04, 2014 | 16:41

How a mother-daughter war will help the BJP in UP

The Lok Sabha elections have been cruel on the smaller parties and this is especially true of the Apna Dal (AD), which observers say, is on the verge of extinction. The party, which was founded by the late Sone Lal Patel, is now facing factional infighting between his wife Krishna and daughter Anupriya with little hope of a reconciliation. Instead, the mother has sacked her daughter, an MP from Mirzapur, while the daughter continues to call her mother a "rogue".

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The Apna Dal was founded in the early 1990s by Sone Lal Patel, because he was feeling out of place in a Dalit-based organisation — the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). As a result, he decided to migrate from Kannauj to Azamgarh, where the Kurmi population (of which he was a leader) was about 14 per cent. But he also knew that there were many Kurmi leaders in the region who were associated with well-established political parties. So to try and distinguish himself with other Kurmi leaders, Sone Lal founded the Apna Dal in 1995. The wily politician anchored his entire campaign on the lie that he was an officer of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) who had left his job to devote his time in uplifting the members of his community.

The campaign bore fruit and the AD started winning two or three seats in the Assembly elections. But Sone Lal Patel was still struggling to make AD a political force in UP. As a result, he inducted dreaded mafia-don-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed into the party. He also joined hands with the jailed don Babloo Srivastava in 2007 to further his party’s prospects. It was on this nefarious foundation that Sone Lal’s wife Krishna Patel took over as president, and his daughter Anupriya Patel as general secretary of the party, after his death in 2009.

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But after Sone Lal’s death, the party fell apart. The hunger for power and the unchecked ambitions of both Krishna and Anupriya led to full-fledged political warfare.

The result: the mother sacked her daughter and her husband from the party on the grounds of "indiscipline". Anupriya has denied the allegations.

Observers say the turn of events has come about, because Krishna wants to promote Pallavi Patel — Anupriya’s sister into politics. This infighting though, they believe will benefit the BJP. Bereft of a strong backward caste leader in UP, sources say the BJP is looking at Anupriya to win votes for the state polls in 2017, though so far she is publically saying no. Also given that the AD is an ally, the BJP does not want to be seen to be fishing in troubled waters.

But as the days pass, the BJP is counting on another split between mother and second daughter Pallavi. This fallout could not only finish the AD but help the BJP consolidate UP.

Last updated: November 04, 2014 | 16:41
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