Praveen Kumar Nishad, Samajwadi Party MP from Gorakhpur, joins BJP

Nishad Party leader Praveen Kumar Nishad, who is an MP from Gorakhpur, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday in presence of Union Minister JP Nadda. 

Praveen Nishad had contested 2018 bypoll on Samajwadi Party ticket from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's bastion Gorakhpur. He won the Gorakhpur parliamentary seat by 21,961 votes.

Some reports suggest that he could be given a ticket from Bhadoi.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party on Saturday named another Nishad community member as its candidate from the coveted Gorakhpur seat in Uttar Pradesh. 

Ram Bhuwal Nishad is the SP candidate from Gorakhpur. Ram Bhuwal Nishad had been two-time MLA from Kaudiram Assembly seat, now Gorakhpur rural, and had also been the fisheries minister during BSP chief Mayawati's government in 2007. 

In a related development, Nishad Party - which is headed by Praveen Nishad's father Sanjay - decided to pull out of the the SP-BSP-RLD 'mahagathbandhan' in Uttar Pradesh.

Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad said, "Akhilesh Yadav had said he will make an announcement on seats for our party. But they did not put our name on poster/letter or anything. My party workers, authorities, core committee were upset".

"So the Nishad party has taken a decision today that we are not with the 'gathbandhan', we are free, can fight elections independently," he added.