The Samajwadi Party had fielded five members of the Yadav family: Akhilesh from Kannauj, Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, Dharmendra Yadav from Azamgarh, Akshay Yadav from Firozabad and Aditya Yadav from Budaun. All five candidates won the Lok Sabha elections.
“Akhilesh did not field any other Yadav candidate because he wanted to remove the tag that the SP was a pro-Yadav party. He gave tickets to other OBCs and the move paid rich dividends: the party won 37 seats. He wants to continue with the strategy,” said a senior party spokesperson.
It is this strategy that prevents Akhilesh Yadav from appointing his uncle Shivpal Yadav as opposition leader in his place. Shivpal is among the senior MLAs and enjoys acceptability in the party ranks.
The SP does not have a Muslim face who can replace Akhilesh as opposition leader as Mohd Azam Khan remains in prison. The party has 32 Muslim MLAs, but most of them lack the necessary experience to work as an opposition leader.
Party sources said Akhilesh Yadav had already started working on selecting candidates for the assembly elections and would give greater representation to Dalits as the party had benefited from Dalit support in the recently concluded elections.
The party's biggest gamble paid off in Ayodhya (Faizabad), where it had fielded a Dalit leader, Avadhesh Prasad, who won the seat, defeating the BJP.
The SP's ticketing strategy is largely credited for leading the INDIA bloc to a surprising victory.
The party virtually swept the seats in Purvanchal, where both non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits form a major chunk of the electorate. The SP also won seven reserved seats.
With Dalits now also ruling out the BSP as an option, a large segment of the community united behind the INDIA bloc. “Why should we waste our vote?” was the refrain among many Dalits on the ground when asked if they would prefer the BSP.
The result was that the BSP's vote share dropped to a dismal two per cent and the INDIA bloc appears to have gained considerably from the fall.
“Akhilesh did not field any other Yadav candidate because he wanted to remove the tag that the SP was a pro-Yadav party. He gave tickets to other OBCs and the move paid rich dividends: the party won 37 seats. He wants to continue with the strategy,” said a senior party spokesperson.
It is this strategy that prevents Akhilesh Yadav from appointing his uncle Shivpal Yadav as opposition leader in his place. Shivpal is among the senior MLAs and enjoys acceptability in the party ranks.
The SP does not have a Muslim face who can replace Akhilesh as opposition leader as Mohd Azam Khan remains in prison. The party has 32 Muslim MLAs, but most of them lack the necessary experience to work as an opposition leader.
Party sources said Akhilesh Yadav had already started working on selecting candidates for the assembly elections and would give greater representation to Dalits as the party had benefited from Dalit support in the recently concluded elections.
The party's biggest gamble paid off in Ayodhya (Faizabad), where it had fielded a Dalit leader, Avadhesh Prasad, who won the seat, defeating the BJP.
The SP's ticketing strategy is largely credited for leading the INDIA bloc to a surprising victory.
The party virtually swept the seats in Purvanchal, where both non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits form a major chunk of the electorate. The SP also won seven reserved seats.
With Dalits now also ruling out the BSP as an option, a large segment of the community united behind the INDIA bloc. “Why should we waste our vote?” was the refrain among many Dalits on the ground when asked if they would prefer the BSP.
The result was that the BSP's vote share dropped to a dismal two per cent and the INDIA bloc appears to have gained considerably from the fall.
