Hours after giving 15 seats deal challenge to Congress, Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party announced a list of 11 more candidates yesterday which included OBCs as well. This has cleared Akhilesh Yadav's intention to directly take on the BJP which considers the OBC category as its largest vote bank. So far, the SP has fielded 27 candidates, with 4 non-Yadav OBC candidates included in the second list of 11. In the first list of 16 candidates, 8 non-Yadav OBC candidates have been nominated. Out of the total 27 candidates, 15 belong to the OBC category. Akhilesh Yadav has been pitching PDA- Pichhda, Dali and Alpsankhyak cards against the BJP-led NDA for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
PDA Equation In Second List
Four of the 11 candidates announced in the second list of the Samajwadi Party belong to backward communities. In addition, five candidates are from scheduled castes. Veerendra Singh is a Kshatriya, while Afzal Ansari is a Muslim. The scrutiny was also intense because several leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP) are accused of neglecting the Scheduled Castes. Previously, on January 30, the first list of the SP was released, which included the names of 16 candidates. In total, the SP has now announced the names of 27 candidates.
Among them, Afzal Ansari, the brother of the mafia don Mukhtar Ansari, has been nominated from Ghazipur, Harendra Malik from Muzaffarnagar, Neeraj Maurya from Aonla, Rajesh Kashyap from Shahjahanpur, and Usha Varma from Hardoi. From the Mishrikh Lok Sabha seat, the SP has fielded Ram Pal Rajvanshi, A.R.K. Chaudhary from Mohanlalganj, and A.S.P. Singh Patel from Pratapgarh. The party has also placed bets on Ramesh Gautam from Bahraich, Veerendra Singh from Chandauli, and Shreya Varma from Gonda.
Afzal Ansari is Muslim, Harendra Malik is Jat, Neeraj Maurya is OBC, Rajesh Kashyap is Scheduled Caste, Usha Varma is OBC, Ram Pal Rajvanshi is Scheduled Caste, A.R.K. Chaudhary is Scheduled Caste, Ramesh Gautam is Scheduled Caste, while Veerendra Singh is a Kshatriya. This indicates that the Samajwadi Party has worked to address the continuous criticism of sidelining the Scheduled Castes in its second list.
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) February 19, 2024
Why SP Facing Anger Of Its Leaders?
Last week, the Samajwadi Party nominated Jaya Bachchan, Alok Ranjan - former IAS officer and close associate of Akhilesh Yadav, and former MP Ramji Lal Suman for Rajya Sabha seats, prompting criticism from Pallavi Patel. Pallavi Patel is the head of the party's Scheduled Caste cell and contested the 2022 UP Assembly elections against the SP.
She alleged that both Jaya Bachchan and Alok Ranjan belong to the higher caste. She even went as far as threatening that she would not vote for the candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections. Meanwhile, due to the absence of any Muslim candidate's name in the SP's Rajya Sabha list, Salim Sherwani left the party, stating that despite repeated requests, at least one Muslim candidate's name was not included in the Rajya Sabha list.
On the other hand, Rajpal Kashyap, commenting on the new list, said, "All elements of the Scheduled Castes are present in this list. It is not an attempt to calm the expressed dissatisfaction with the announced candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections."
