Announcing its decision to field party chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad in Gorakhpur Sadar constituency for the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) on Thursday made it clear that it was ready to take on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the latter’s bastion.
Gorakhpur Sadar is the seat from where the BJP has fielded CM Adityanath this time too.
In a statement released on social media platforms, ASP (K) said: “Taking forward the ‘Bahujan Hitaay-Bahujan Sukhaay’ ideology of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshiram sahib, the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) is announcing Chandra Shekhar Aazad as candidate from Gorakhpur Sadar (322) seat.”
ASP (K)’s national core committee member Mohammad Aqib confirmed the development to news agency PTI and mentioned that the registered name of the party is Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram).
35-year-old Aazad, a lawyer-turned-activist, had co-founded the Dalit rights outfit Bhim Army in 2015 and has been its national president ever since. He further launched the ASP (K) in March, 2020, and became its chief.
Gorakhpur Sadar will go to poll on March 3, during the sixth phase of Assembly elections in UP, and the results will be declared on March 10.
Though Aazad was in talks with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party for a tie-up to contest the polls until recently, he dropped the plan as the SP offered only two seats to his party.
Earlier this week, Azad had said his party would no longer approach the SP for alliance as it was a “matter of self-respect”. He had, however, mentioned that the party was open to finding new allies for the polls.