The Samajwadi Party on Saturday fielded its own candidate from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat after the Nishad Party pulled out of the alliance of Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh.

The sitting MP, Pravin Nishad, is the son of Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, PTI reported. Pravin Nishad had won the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat in a bye-election on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2018.

The Samajwadi Party has now fielded Ram Bhuwal Nishad, who is also from the Nishad community. Gorakhpur was the constituency of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath before he vacated it.

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The Nishad Party had joined the alliance between the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal only a few days ago. The party wanted to contest on the Maharajganj seat using its own symbol, but the Samajwadi Party did not approve of this, All India Radio reported.

Sanjay Nishad claimed on Friday that the posters, banners or letters issued by the alliance did not contain the name of the Nishad Party, The Hindu reported. He added that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav did not declare the seats to be allotted to the party at the press conference he held on March 26, after promising to do so.

“We are not part of the alliance any more,” Sanjay Nishad said. “We are free. We can independently contest the election or search for a new alternative.”

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However, after leaving the alliance, Sanjay Nishad met Adityanath and state minister Siddharth Nath Singh. “Uttar Pradesh chief minister assured me yesterday that our grievances will be heard and dealt with,” Sanjay Nishad told ANI on Saturday. “Nishad Party will contest on its own symbol. The National Democratic Alliance will decide who will contest from where.”

Besides fielding a new candidate from the Gorakhpur seat, the Samajwadi Party has also named Ram Kumar as its candidate from Kanpur. Kumar is also from the Nishad community. The party has fielded ST Hasan instead of Nasir Qureshi from Moradabad.