Lucknow, May 24 (IANS): The Nishad Party, an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, has announced that it will contest the Lok Sabha elections on its own symbol.

National president of the party and UP fisheries minister Sanjay Nishad said that the party wants its presence in Parliament. The Nishad party had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP and also on BJP's symbol.

Sanjay Nishad's son, Pravin Nishad had contested on the BJP ticket from Sant Kabir Nagar and won.

The 2019 polls were the first general election that the party had contested.

Sanjay Nishad said that the preparations for the general elections have already started.

"The preparations will be done in three phases. In the first phase, the party will work to strengthen the presence in 27 Lok Sabha seats that have more than 4.5 lakh voters. These 27 LS seats, which are situated close to the river banks, will be prepared to vote in favour of NDA," said Nishad.

The party will bolster its booth-level committees and block-level committees to establish a directed contact with the target group of voters.

The party has started training of its workers and office-bearers besides organising cadre training camps.

Meanwhile, reacting to Sanjay Nishad's announcement, a senior BJP functionary said, "Everyone is free to make their own decision but the BJP has not yet decided on seat sharing with allies and nor have there been any talks on the issue."