Lucknow: Union minister Anupriya Patel’s husband Ashish Patel, himself a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, has accused the Yogi Adityanath government’s information department of trying to destabilise his party Apna Dal (Soneylal) by “pressuring” a section of the media to run false and misleading stories about dissension in the party.
Ashish Patel’s attack comes in the wake of a group of dissident leaders launching a new political outfit called Apna Morcha after parting ways with the Apna Dal (S), a BJP ally in the state and at the centre.
In a strongly worded social media post, Patel launched a scathing attack on his own government and the media by alleging that a section of the press is operating under “pressure” from the Yogi Adityanath government to spread false narratives and create confusion within Apna Dal (S), a party which has a considerable sway among the Kurmi OBC caste.
He claimed the information department has been allocated a huge budgetary outlay to pursue this objective.
“What kind and how much pressure does a Rs 1700-crore budget of the information department exert! Ask a section of the media about what they have to write and do under this pressure. They have to show the Apna Dal (S) is falling apart every day,” he said in a post on X in Hindi.
“Sometimes they have to run stories about nine MLAs defecting, sometimes they have to host news of 12 MLAs switching sides. They are under quite a heavy compulsion,” he claimed.
He went on to throw further taunts at the media, giving them “unsolicited but sensible” advice. “Don’t go through this hassle everyday. Just today, once and for all, break the Apna Dal (S) into as many parts as you want. Nine MLAs or 12 MLAs—assign them to whichever party you wish. And for the satisfaction of your heart, go ahead and write that the Apna Dal (S) no longer exists.”
“That way, the entire hassle ends, those pressuring you will be happy, and the Rs 1700-crore budget of the information department will have been properly utilised. You also won’t have to act like slaves to baseless statements and false information from politically dead leaders every single day.”
He then asserted the Apna Dal (S) has been nurtured with the sweat and blood of millions of the marginalised and oppressed, and the party has fought such conspiracies and its workers are well-trained to do so. “The Apna Dal is not a fragile house of cards, but a kind of grass that sprouts even in adversity.”
He ended his post with a poem of resolve penned by Mahakavi Pash. “Main ghaas hoon, main aapke har kiye-dhare par ug aaunga. Bomb fenk do chahe vishwavidyalay par, bana do hostel ko malbe ka dher, suhaaga phira do bhale hi hamari jhopadiyon par, mujhe kya karoge? Main to ghaas hoon, har cheez dhank loonga, Har dher par ug aaunga. Main ghaas hoon, main apna kaam karoonga, main aapke har kiye-dhare par ug aaunga. (I am grass. I will sprout back on everything you do. Throw bombs at the university if you must, reduce the hostel to a heap of rubble, smash our huts to pieces if you wish, but what can you do to me? I am grass — I will cover it all. I will sprout from every heap. I am grass — I will do my work. I will grow back over everything you do.”
Also Read: Why Raj Kumar Pal stepped down as UP chief of Apna Dal (S), a ‘2-personality show’
The beginning of current crisis
On 1 July, a group of Apna Dal(S) dissidents including its former general secretary Arvind Singh Patel, spokesperson Chaudhary Brajendra Pratap Singh Patel, youth wing chief Hemant Chaudhary and almost a dozen Kurmi caste leaders declared the new outfit Apna Morcha as the ‘real voice’ of Apna Dal (S).
Addressing reporters, these leaders launched a scathing attack on the current leadership of Apna Dal (S), accusing it of sidelining and humiliating founding members and long-time party workers. They also said both Anupriya and Ashish Patel were ignoring Kurmis in the party. The morcha leaders also claimed to be in touch with nine current MLAs of Apna Dal (S).
Earlier this year, Raj Kumar Pal resigned as the Apna Dal(S) state president after accusing the Patels of neglecting him and mistreating party workers. As per sources, Pal has not joined the rebel morcha as he is in talks with the Samajwadi Party.
Ashish Patel said all these are part of a “gameplan”.
“There is a clear conspiracy against our party. After some rebels formed a morcha, we wrote to the chief minister to remove two rebels as the members of the Purvanchal Vikas Board but that did not happen. We also got inputs that these rebels have the back up of some power centres. We understand this whole gameplan against us. Now, we will not stay silent,” he told ThePrint.
This is not the first time that Ashish Patel has attacked the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government. In January this year, he not only accused then Uttar Pradesh director of information Shishir Singh and chief minister’s media advisor Mrityunjay Singh of tarnishing his image by “planting false stories”, but he also dared the Amitabh Yash-led Special Task Force (STF) to shoot him in the chest “if they have the guts”.
Patel was facing flak from his sister-in-law Pallavi Patel for alleged irregularities and corruption in promotion of candidates in technical education department, which he heads as the minister.
His wife and Apna Dal (Sonelal) national president Anupriya Patel has also been targeting the Adityanath-led government for some time. Just after the Lok Sabha poll results in 2024, she wrote to him, alleging that reserved seats meant for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) had been “unreserved” during the government recruitment process.
The letter came in the backdrop of the BJP’s relatively weak performance in the Lok Sabha polls and the concern among the coalition partners about SC and OBC voters shifting to the Opposition bloc.
Both husband and wife always praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in their speeches but avoid taking the name of Yogi Adityanath.
In Uttar Pradesh, Kurmis are considered the second largest OBC group after Yadavs, holding significant political influence across various regions of the state. Given their importance, the BJP cannot afford to lose a key ally representing this community.
Though chief minister Aditynath has not responded to this issue yet, a senior functionary at the chief minister’s office said, “The matter is essentially a tussle between the Centre and the state. While Anupriya and Ashish Patel enjoy a strong rapport with the central leadership, their relations with the state leadership are strained. As a result, they are now being used as pawns to tarnish the image of the state government.”
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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