Cong seals poll pact with Apna Dal faction

5 Dariya News

New Delhi 16-Mar-2019

The Congress on Saturday sealed an alliance with the Krishna Patel-led faction of the Apna Dal in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finalised a seat sharing deal with the Apna Dal (Sone Lal), the other faction of the party led by Anupriya Patel, a Minister of State in the Narendra Modi government.The Congress has left two Lok Sabha seats -- Pilibhit and Gonda -- for the alliance partner. The party had earlier communicated that the two seats were Basti and Gonda.Soon after the finalisation of the alliance, Krishna Patel's son-in-law Pankaj Niranjan Singh Chandel joined the Congress and was welcomed to the party by its President Rahul Gandhi.On Friday, the BJP sealed a seat-sharing arrangement with the Apna Dal(S). The Anupriya Patel faction will contest two seats.The Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) is led by its founder Sone Lal Patel's widow. Sone Lal Patel, a regional leader of Patels, died in a car crash in 2009. The party was later split between his widow and elder daughter.