After the electoral setbacks in the Azamgarh and Rampur parliamentary bypolls in June this year, the Samajwadi Party has decided to mobilise the electorate by launching a Rs Desh Bachao, Desh Banao’ padyatra from August 9.

This is the first phase of the padyatra which will commence from Ghazipur and conclude at Ballia on October 27. The SP padyatra will begin from Ghazipur on August 9 on the occasion of the August Kranti Diwas. 

As per the programme announced by the Samajwadi Party, the party will take out the 'Desh Bachao Desh Banao Samajwadi Padyatra' from Ghazipur from August 9. The first phase of the yatra will pass through Ghazipur, Ballia, Mau, Jaunpur, Bhadohi and Varanasi districts.

According to the schedule released by the SP state unit president Naresh Uttam Patel, the padyatra will be led by Ghazipur district president Abhishek Yadav.

During the padyatra, the Samajwadi Party is likely to focus the attention of the people on inflation, law and order and issues of the farmers. However, the objective of the padyatra is to strengthen the SP organisation at the grassroots level ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The decision to launch the padyatra was announced after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav presided over a meeting of the party office-bearers to review the election results in by recent Azamgarh and Rampur bypolls. Akhilesh had sought reports from the SP district presidents of Azamgarh and Rampur on the causes of the poor performance of the party candidate leading to the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates on both the seats.