Lucknow: Exit to redeem the missing pride, the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav seems firmly establishing himself as BJP’s main challenger in the assembly process of 2022.
Needle alliances with small parties and crossing the country with Samajwadi Vijay Yatra, Akhilesh is no longer ‘Twitter Neta’ Even for the ceases.
Leading the election campaign alone for the first time in a political career for two decades, Akhilesh appeared to select the direct contest between the powerful SP and BJP.
After the bitter battle for supremacy in the Yadav clan in 2016 and suffered defeats in two consecutive elections following (2017 and 2019 assembly polls selection of Sabha), ‘battered and bruised’ Akhilesh unites himself.
Strongly built himself as ‘one and the only’ leader in SP, he tried his hand on coalition politics, but with a difference.
As joining his hands with Congress in the 2017 Assembly poll and with BSP in 2019 the selection of Lok Sabha failed to produce the desired results, Akhilesh decided to reach smaller caste-based regional parties from the whole up – especially those who have a non-Yadav OBC base .
This was mainly driven by the findings of the party’s internal survey which revealed that in the 2017 elections, more than 50% OBC chose BJP when around 15% support sp.
At the same time, SP’s leadership also wanted to send a message to the voters that the party was willing to sided with OBC non-yadav too.
While children in SP began to reach small parties, Akhilesh himself led by the Yatras cycle, first in Rampur in March and then in Lucknow in August.
Among other things, he took the cause of farmers who protested agricultural law by holding a sit-in arrest and dating in Lucknow, won headlines in newspapers and television debates.
While the SP head took the middle stage in protest against the agricultural law in Lucknow, he directed the party cadres to return Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary to drive support against agricultural law in Western dominating.
This was done to ensure that RLD did not feel abandoned from the political spotlight on the issue of farmers, which formed its core constituency.
To put a bond with smaller clothing, Akhilesh openly supports the idea of Caste Census and then announced that if you choose to be in power, the government will get the caste census above.
He promised that all caste and community would have a share in the development project comparable to their population.
After that, the SP announced the Alliance with Jayant Chaudhy’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, Keshav Dev Mahana Mahan Dal, former BJP Party Ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, and the Janwadi Party LED Sanjay Chauhan (Socialist).
These parties claim JATS support, Maurya-Kushwaha, each of the Rajbhar and Noniya Chauhan communities.
He also sorted the difference with Uncle Shivpal Yadav which will help the SP leadership handle the Yadav belt to a certain extent with more conveniences than the scenario where the shivpal was pitted against SP in the election.
Meanwhile, Don Mukhtar Ansari’s brothers who were imprisoned and former Mla Sibghatullah Ansari officially joined SP along with nine senior leaders, including sitting MLAS BSP and some from BJP too.
Not only about sharpening his skills in political alignments and effectively plays the lead role of the main opposition party in the state.
According to sources, Akhilesh also worked on its communication skills with cadres and media.
Political observers said that the big meeting was, especially young people who were waiting for hours to see and heard Akhilesh’s speech during his Vijay Yatra, was a testimony that the former CM attacked a chord with cadres and the general public.
That this crowd will be translated into sound still has to be seen.
The party, however, continues to face the challenges thrown by tenderness cadres, such as groups in Kanpur who created a commotion to oppose PM Narendra Modi’s visit to inaugurated the Metro train project, which was launched during the SP regime.
Although party leadership was fast to expel them involved in the incident, such an instance took the victim in the party’s picture.
Another point where Akhilesh found himself in a loss was the absence of the second step leaders at a party or a star campaign that could share the charge overcoming important public demonstrations.
Yadav appeared as the main challenger for BJP in the battle of polls
