Samajwadi Party’s alliance with Apna Dal (K) falls apart, Akhilesh Yadav says he has moved on

The Samajwadi Party’s alliance with the Kurmi OBC-based Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) has fallen apart with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday saying he has moved on.
“We were allies earlier, not anymore,” Akhilesh Yadav said to reporters the day after Krishna Patel-led Apna Dal (K) declared candidates on three Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh — Mirzapur, Phulpur, and Kaushambi in the state’s eastern region. The same day, the SP also declared its candidate for the Mirzapur seat.
Though the signs of a fissure were clear since Wednesday’s development, there was some confusion as the Apna Dal (K) chief Krishna Patel had said her party declared the candidates on the three seats “as part of the INDIA bloc”.
Replying to questions from reporters, Akhilesh Yadav said: “There is no alliance with (Apna Dal-K) anymore. The alliance was for 2022 (U.P. assembly polls).”
Prodded further if there will be any talks with the Apna Dal (K), Akhilesh said: “We have moved on”.
Meanwhile, Lok Dal chief Sunil Singh has announced an alliance with the SP and claimed that his Lok Dal is the original party launched by the former Prime Minister the late Chaudhary Charan Singh.
“Now, we have the real Lok Dal with us,” Akhilesh said.
Apna Dal (K), led by Krishna Patel (the wife of the late Sonelal Patel who had launched Apna Dal), had allied with the Samajwadi Party ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. Krishna Patel’s younger daughter Pallavi Patel is the SP MLA from Sirathu (Kaushambi) seat. The SP had fielded Pallavi on its symbol. Krishna Patel’s elder daughter Anupriya Patel is a Union minister and leads the Apna Dal (Sonelal). Anupriya has been a BJP ally since 2014. Both Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (K) are parties with a Kurmi support base.
All had not been well between the SP and Apna Dal (K) since February when the SP had declared three candidates for the biennial Rajya Sabha polls for 10 U.P. seats. Pallavi Patel had raised the banner of rebellion, saying that the SP had deviated from its PDA or Pichda, Dalit and Alpasankhyak formula that stands for backwards, Dalit, and minorities and declared upper caste actor Jaya Bachchan and ex-bureaucrat Alok Ranjan as two of the candidates instead of fielding an OBC and a Muslim candidate along with a Dalit candidate Ramji Lal Suman. Pallavi had initially announced that she would abstain from voting, but eventually changed her stance and said that she would vote only for the Dalit candidate (Ramji Lal Suman) of the SP.
People aware of the development had indicated the Apna Dal (K) was expecting the SP to field Krishna Patel as one of the three RS candidates.
After the Rajya Sabha polls, there was speculation that the SP may field a member of Apna Dal (K) for the U.P. Vidhan Parishad (Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council) early this month. However, the SP sent its three members to the Parishad.