Apna Dal
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Apna Dal
अपना दल |
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| Abbreviation | AD |
| President | Krishna Patel |
| Parliamentary Chairperson | [[]] |
| Lok Sabha leader | [[]] |
| Founder | Dr.Sone Lal Patel |
| Founded | 4 November 1995 |
| Headquarters | 1/2 A.P. Sen Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Ideology | Social Justice for All, Women Empowerment, Inclusive Governance |
| Colours | Orange/Blue |
| ECI Status | State Party |
| Alliance | NDA (2014-Present) |
| Seats in Lok Sabha |
2 / 545
|
| Seats in Rajya Sabha |
0 / 245
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Apna Dal (अपना दल) is an Indian political party active in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The party finds its support base mainly among the OBC communities of the Varanasi-Mirzapur region.
Apna Dal was founded on 4 November 1995 by Dr. Sone Lal Patel, a politician belonging to the Kurmi caste. Sonelal Patel had been a close associate of dalit leader Kanshi Ram, and along with Ram, he had been one of the founders of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). However, Kanshi Ram started giving great importance to his young female protégée, Mayawati, to the disappointment of many other party workers who had worked very hard to build the BSP. Mayawati's arrogant attitude was also resented by them. Matters came to a head in 1995, when for the first time ever, the BSP got the chance to head a coalition government in Uttar Pradesh, and Kanshi Ram chose Mayawati to be the Chief Minister. The government headed by Mayawati was extremely short-lived (June to October 1995), but the internal pressure which had built up in the party during this time was enough to cause many people to leave the BSP and form a new political party.
That party was the Apna Dal, founded by Dr. Sone Lal Patel in November 1995, less than three weeks after the collapse of the Mayawati government. In contrast to the BSP, which had projected itself principally as the champion of the dalits, the new party sought to project itself as a party of all castes and religions. To symbolize this, the flag of Apna Dal has two colours, saffron and blue. Saffron is the colour of Hinduism, while blue is increasingly regarded as the colour of the dalits and Ambedkarites. The Election Commission has officially assigned "cup and saucer" as the party symbol for Apna Dal, to be used while contesting elections.
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