Apna Dal (Sonelal), a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on October 17 reiterated its stand in favour of caste-based census, adding it supported the issue at all proper forums.
“We fully support the demand of caste census in U.P. and across the country and raised it all forums including parliament,” said Anupriya Patel, the Apna Dal (Sonelal) president and Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.
Ms. Patel, a two-time Lok Sabha member from Mirzapur, added the party will remain within the NDA fold and the alliance will emerge victorious in U.P. “We fought two Parliamentary and two Assembly polls together and will contest the 2024 election again unitedly,” said the Union Minister, while speaking with the presspersons, in Pratapgarh after the Sankalp Sabha on Apna Dal’s founder Sone Lal Patel’s death anniversary.
The smaller ally Apna Dal (S) won two seats, while the BJP on its own won 62 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in U.P., while the Anupriya Patel-led party emerged victorious on 12 assembly seats in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.