By winning 37 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, the SP has made its mark on the national stage. This is the best performance since the formation of SP. Akhilesh Yadav is now working on a strategy to give SP a national identity i.e. national party status, which has become the country’s third largest party in terms of numbers in the Lok Sabha. In such a situation, Akhilesh’s eyes are on the assembly elections to be held in Maharashtra, for which a reception of SP MPs has been organized in Mumbai on Friday.
The first public reception of 37 SP MPs in Uttar Pradesh is going to be held in Mumbai. Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav along with his family attended the wedding of Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai on July 12. The very next day, on July 13, he held a meeting with SP officials and workers in Mumbai. Now state president Abu Azmi has made massive preparations for a reception for SP MPs in Mumbai, which is believed to be the start of the SP’s Maharashtra assembly election campaign. That is why there is a strategy not only to welcome SP MPs but also to solve political equations.
PDA Formula of SP in Maharashtra
Along with the program to welcome SP MPs in Uttar Pradesh in Mumbai, Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA formula has been strategised. The Lok Sabha MPs will first go to Mani Bhavan, where Mahatma Gandhi spent his time. After this, all the SP MPs will go to Chaityabhoomi and Dr. the framer of the constitution. Bhimrao will pay tribute to Ambedkar. Besides, Chhatrapati will greet Shivaji at the Shivaji Park grounds and then visit the Siddhivinayak Temple and Mahim Dargah. In this way, SP has made a plan to give a political message to Dalits, Backward Classes and Muslims from Mumbai. The SP has managed to win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections through the PDA formula, and plans to implement it in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
The SP started contesting the Maharashtra assembly elections only after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared. Akhilesh appointed SP national general secretary Indrajit Saroj as the in-charge of Maharashtra elections and MLA Abu Asim Azmi as state president. Indrajit Saroj hails from Dalit community and came to SP from BSP. Thus, the SP is eyeing to create a Muslim-Dalit equation in Maharashtra. On the pretext of meeting and welcoming SP MPs in Mumbai, Abu Azmi is considering it as a big political bet for the Maharashtra assembly elections.
SP’s politics of pressure on India
In Uttar Pradesh, the SP contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress, but in Maharashtra it is not part of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP are part of the All India Alliance in the state and all three plan to contest the assembly elections together. The picture is not clear whether the SP will find a place in the Bharat coalition in Maharashtra or not. SP Maharashtra president Abu Asim Azmi was also seeking the seat during the Lok Sabha elections, but did not get it. In such a situation, the SP has planned to put pressure on the Bharat Alliance by showing its political strength in Mumbai before the assembly elections.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav interacted with SP officials and workers in Mumbai on July 13. Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav announced that the SP will contest the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly and Municipal Corporation elections with a coalition, but if the Samajwadi Party is ignored, the party will try its luck alone. The SP National President ordered the entire organization to be ready up to the booth level in both situations. Now, showing its political strength at a function to honor MPs in Mumbai, the SP has decided to put pressure on the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar camp, a constituent of the Indian alliance, so that it can win maximum seats in the upcoming assembly elections. .
How much political power does the SP have in Mumbai?
In Maharashtra, the SP has been trying its luck in the electoral arena for a long time. In 2009, the SP won four seats here, but in 2014, the number was reduced to just one. In 2019, the party got 2 MLAs and saw a slight increase in votes. The SP’s political base in Maharashtra is limited to the Muslim areas of Mumbai, particularly among migrant Muslims from Uttar Pradesh. In Maharashtra, party chief Abu Asim Azmi is constantly trying to ensure that his party gets majority Muslim assembly constituencies in the state while at the same time wooing north Indians in the Mumbai region.
A show of strength has also been prepared by the SP MPs on the pretext of the reception to create political atmosphere in Mumbai. The SP is gearing up for elections on around two dozen seats, but it is trying to agree on eight to 10 seats if India becomes part of the alliance in the assembly elections. In such a scenario, it remains to be seen whether the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar will agree to give political space to the SP in Maharashtra, as the votebank that the SP is eyeing belongs to the Congress and Pawar in Maharashtra. In such a situation, will he take the risky step of accommodating the SP and making another partner in his vote bank?
