Prominent Dalit face Chandra Shekhar Azad will fight the Uttar Pradesh assembly election from Gorakhpur Sadar seat, his Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) announced on Thursday.
Gorakhpur Sadar is the seat from where the BJP has fielded UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“Taking forward the ideology of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshiram sahib for ‘Bahujan Hitaay – Bahujan Sukhaay’, the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) announced Chandra Shekhar Aazad as a candidate from Gorakhpur Sadar (322) seat,” the party said in a statement on social media.
ASP (K)’s national core committee member Mohammad Aqib confirmed the development to PTI. He said the registered name of the party is Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram). The 35-year-old lawyer-turned-activist had co-founded the Dalit rights outfit Bhim Army and he is its national president.
He launched the ASP (K) in March 2020 and is the party president. Gorakhpur Sadar goes to the polls on March 3 during the sixth phase of elections in UP. The results will be declared on March 10.
Azad was until recently in talks with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party for a tie-up to contest the polls but was offered only two seats by it.
Feeling thus shortchanged, Aazad had on Tuesday said his party would no longer approach the SP for the alliance as it was a matter of “self-respect”, but added he was open to finding new allies for the polls.
The flamboyant leader has often said his fight is against the ideology of the BJP and the RSS.
