SP President Akhilesh Yadav was climbing the steps of Parliament holding the hand of MP Awadhesh Prasad on Monday. He was followed by a throng of SP MPs, a glimpse of Akhilesh Yadav’s growing stature in the country, where he won 37 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
The morale of the Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party was weakening due to continuous electoral defeats. In such a situation, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections became a question of survival for Akhilesh Yadav. To overcome this, Akhilesh once again chose the path of alliance. Their two attempts at attachment had failed. He badly lost the 2017 assembly elections in alliance with the Congress and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BSP. Despite all this, Akhilesh Yadav formed an alliance with the Congress and joined the India Alliance.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal talking to SP President Akhilesh Yadav.
This alliance of SP-Congress did wonders in the elections. The alliance captured 43 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The win brought life to both the SP and the Congress, as both the parties faced crushing defeats in the 2019 elections. While the SP won five seats while the Congress could only win one seat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi also faced defeat in Amethi. In this election SP has won 37 seats and Congress has got 6 seats. Earlier in 2004 elections SP had won 36 seats. In which 35 seats were found in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand.
Akhilesh Yadav’s vote bank
Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party have grown in stature with this victory and political parties are eager to join hands with the SP. In view of this, its ally Congress in Uttar Pradesh is seen giving importance to it outside Uttar Pradesh as well. Elections are to be held in three states this year. Which includes Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. While SP can prove effective in some areas of Haryana, especially in Ahirwal area. The Congress also realizes that if it had reached an accord with the SP in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the results could have been different.
Akhilesh Yadav holding the hand of Awadhesh Prasad (right) who won from Faizabad.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s growing stature was also visible in the Lok Sabha on Monday, when he sat in the front row with Rahul Gandhi and before this Lok Sabha, Akhilesh raised the slogan ‘PDA-Backward-Dalit-Minority’. His election slogan worked. A large chunk of the non-Yadav backward and Dalit votes have joined the Samajwadi Party in this election. With the help of these votes, BJP has been performing well in UP since the last two elections, this vote bank has a large base in the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh.
Which vote bank is Akhilesh Yadav eyeing?
To woo Dalit voters, Akhilesh Yadav is seen carrying the Awadhesh Prasad he won from Faizabad with him everywhere. Akhilesh Yadav is projecting the Awadhesh victory as his biggest victory over the BJP, as Ayodhya falls under the Faizabad seat, where the BJP was in the fray over the Ram temple issue.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi with Akhilesh Yadav and other SP MPs and leaders.
This is also a victory of Mandal over Kamandal as despite Faizabad being a general seat, the SP fielded its own candidates in 14 of the 17 reserved seats in the state, who hail from the Dalit community. The SP has also taken a hit in the non-Yadav OBC vote bank in this election, thus Akhilesh Yadav is also seen turning to Mandal politics like his father.
Akhilesh Yadav is eyeing PDA’s vote bank in other states as well. SP has also started work in this direction.
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