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The Samajwadi Party (SP), which on Sunday reconstituted its Uttar Pradesh state executive committee ahead of the next year’s Lok Sabha elections, has given more space to non-Yadav OBC leaders — seen as an attempt to shrug off the charge of being the party of “only Yadavs”.
In the newly constituted 182-member state executive, which was dissolved after the party failed to defeat the BJP in the last year’s Assembly elections, 30 of the 70 office-bearers belong to non-Yadav OBCs, while only five Yadav leaders have made the cut. Even the number of Scheduled Castes – 8 — is more than that of Yadavs. While there are five Brahmin leaders among the office bearers, two are from the Scheduled Tribes.
The party has also inducted 12 Muslims in the list, a significant representation, which is seen as an attempt to seize the drifting of Muslim votes to other parties.
The state executive committee comprises 70 office-bearers, 48 members and 62 special invited members. The team of office bearers led by party state unit president Naresh Uttam Patel, has four vice-presidents, three general secretaries, 61 secretaries, and one treasurer.
“The new team is balanced and has the representation of leaders from all the castes and communities… It’s the BJP propaganda that the SP is a party of one caste. The SP has always given respect and representation to all castes and communities,” state unit president Naresh Uttar Patel told The Indian Express.
The move by the Samajwadi Party, led by Akhilesh Yadav, to give larger representation to non-Yadav OBCs is aimed at drawing the support of backward castes voters in the Lok Sabha elections following the exit of Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), and Keshav Dev Maurya’s Mahan Dal from the rainbow coalition that it had stitched in the run-up to the Assembly elections last year.
The SP alliance had got a handsome share of non-Yadav OBC votes in the 2022 Assembly polls when it forged an alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), SBSP, Mahan Dal, Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), and Janwadi Socialist Party.
However, after the polls, Rajbhar joined BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), while the Mahan Dal announced unconditional support to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Also, recently some of the OBC leaders from the SP joined the BJP, including MLA Dara Singh Chauhan– an OBC leader from east UP.
Apart from state unit president Naresh Uttam Patel, a Kurmi (OBC) leader, the SP has included
two more Kurmi leaders in the state executive committee. There are four leaders from the Nishad community in the new panel.
Notably, the rival BJP has an alliance with Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party, which have a support base of Kurmi and Nishad communities, respectively.
In the region-wise break-up, 16 office-bearers are from east UP. The party has also given space to leaders from west UP (12) where it has an alliance with the RLD. Dharmvir Dabas of Ghaziabad and Shalini Rakesh of Baghpat – both Jat leaders have been appointed state secretaries along with Sunil Chaudhary– a Gurjar leader– from Noida.
Seven office-bearers are from three districts of Mainpuri (two), Kannauj (three) and Etawah (two) – considered to be the stronghold of the Yadav family.
Also, over half-a-dozen loyalists of SP national general secretary and Akhilesh’s uncle, Shivpal Singh Yadav, have found a place in the committee. Shivpal, who had earlier parted ways from the SP and had formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) following differences with Akhilesh, merged his party with the SP last December.
Senior SP leader Azam Khan’s son, Abdullah Azam Khan, who was recently disqualified from the Assembly following his conviction in a forgery case, has been retained as secretary.
While there are five Yadav leaders – Mahima Yadav, Lakhan Singh Yadav, Awdhesh Yadav, Ramsevak Yadav, and Mahtab Singh, no one has been given the key positions of vice-presidents and general secretaries. All five have been made secretaries. In contrast, three Muslims hold key posts.
