Lucknow: The 2024 Lok Sabha elections may be nearly two years away from now, but the political parties seem to have girded up their loins for it, challenging one another to join the fight. The recent reports that the Samajwadi Party (SP) has invited Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh in 2024 kicked up a political row between the opposition and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.
The first reaction has come from Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. According to him, Kumar stands no chance in UP. Maurya said that could win barely two seats in UP and that his seat share increased when he had fought an election with BJP.
Now that he does not have Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support, he does not stand any chance in UP, Maurya further said. Sources in the Janata Dal-United (JDU) say that Kumar has been invited to contest Lok Sabha election either from Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat or from Phulpur seat Allahabad. Both the constituencies have a good number of Kurmi population. At present, Apna Dal head and Union minister, Anupriya Patel, holds the seat. Apna Dal, a Kurmi centric party, is a BJP ally. Both Kumar and Maurya belong to the category of other backward classes.
