Lucknow, Sep 2 (IANS): Nishad Party president Dr Sanjay Nishad wants 70 seats from the BJP in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

"The Nishad Party has influence on 160 Assembly seats. I have spoken to the BJP leaders and told them that we would like to contest on 70 seats. In the 2022 elections, the government will be formed by that party which agrees to the demands of the Nishad party," he said.

Nishad further said, "We want coaching centres for children of all castes and religions. There are coaching centres for the Scheduled Castes, but a particular caste has hijacked them."

His other demands include reservation for Nishad community as scheduled castes, the inclusion of Ram-Kevat episode in school books, withdrawal of all cases against members of the Nishad community and land holdings along river banks to the Nishads.

He also demanded installation of a statue of Nishad Raj in the fort at Shringverpur. It was at this place that Lord Ram crossed the Ganga River on his way to exile along with Sita and Lakshman. Shringverpur is an excursion destination, located about 40 kilometres from Prayagraj.

Nishad also hit out at the Opposition parties -- both the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party -- and accused them of "doing nothing for the Nishad community".

"Some leaders only change the colour of their 'kurta' in every election to get votes of a particular community but this will not happen now," he said.

Nishad has had three meetings with the BJP leadership in Delhi and is hopeful of his demands being fulfilled.

Meanwhile, a senior BJP functionary, when contacted, said that Sanjay Nishad's demand for 70 seats was 'irrational and unacceptable'.