Akhilesh Yadav set to be re-elected as SP’s national president
SP is all set to reconstitute “a strong state and national outfit” ahead of the 2024 national polls and discuss the strategy for local bodies’ elections this year
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is set to be re-elected as Samajwadi Party (SP)’s national president for the third time in a row at the party’s two-day state and national conventions in Lucknow from Wednesday.
He was scheduled to address the state convention around 11am before the election of the Uttar Pradesh SP chief on day one. On Thursday, he will conclude the national convention with his speech after he is expected to be declared the national president again.
SP is all set to reconstitute “a strong state and national outfit” ahead of the 2024 national polls and discuss the strategy for local bodies’ elections this year. The party is expected to pass resolutions against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at the Centre and in the state.
On Thursday, SP functionaries are scheduled to deliberate on positioning the party strongly against the BJP. The party has faced a series of electoral losses since the 2014 national polls while the BJP returned to power in the state this year.
SP leaders said they were working to re-energise the organisation for the upcoming polls.
Rajendra Chaudhary, SP’s chief spokesperson, said around 25,000 people, including the top national and state leaders, would participate in the conventions. He accused the BJP of creating a political and economic crisis and damaging the democratic system. “Being the main opposition party, the SP will discuss its effective role in dealing with these issues. In these conventions, there will be an in-depth discussion on the strategy of the party for the Lok Sabha elections.”
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Chaudhary said issues such as the weakening of democratic institutions, continuing economic downslide, law and order, and the endangering of social harmony would also be discussed.
SP has named chief national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav as the observer for the election of the national and state presidents.
Akhilesh Yadav was first elected SP’s national president at an emergency national convention in Lucknow in January 2017, replacing his father and the party founder, Mulayam Singh Yadav, amid a family feud. He was re-elected in October 2017 at a convention in Agra, where the party changed its constitution and increased the term of the president from three to five years. Mulayam Singh Yadav headed the party from 1992 to 2017.
SP’s Uttar Pradesh president Naresh Uttam Patel is likely to retain the post to consolidate the electorally dominant Other Backward Caste voters.
SP leader Ashutosh Patel said Mulayam Singh Yadav and Azam Khan were unlikely to attend the conventions due to ill health. “Both have been in Delhi for weeks over health issues.”
Uttar Pradesh sends the most (80 lawmakers) to Parliament and a direct fight is expected in the state between the BJP and the SP in the 2024 national polls.
The party has authorised Akhilesh Yadav to decide the alliances amid the emergence of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as a possible prime ministerial candidate. He met Kumar this month in Delhi to discuss a broader unity against the BJP.
