Samajwadi Party will hold its national executive meeting, ostensibly to meet constitutional obligation and report to the Election Commission, in Lucknow on Saturday. However, the party is projecting the event as the launch of preparations for the 2022 UP Assembly polls.
This will be the first national executive meeting of the SP after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in which the party had failed to perform well despite a pre-poll alliance with Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party — SP was able to bag only five seats while its ally won 10.
While SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav is likely to grace the meeting, sources in the party said that it was not certain.
SP secretary general and party leader in Rajya Sabha, Ram Gopal Yadav, said on Friday that the meeting would be held at party’s state headquarters from 11 am and would be chaired by party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
With the assembly poll still two years away, the SP is expected to discuss how to take on the Yogi Adityanath government in the state. The party had won 47 seats in 2017 assembly elections but the tally came down to 45 as a member defected to the BJP while Abdullah Azam was disqualified following cancellation of his birth certificate by the Allahabad High Court.
A senior SP leader and national executive member revealed that the national executive meeting was called for expediting some legal issues.
Sources said that the members would focus on the party’s stance to go solo in the next assembly elections but alliance with smaller parties could be discussed in specific areas.
A certain section could also raise the issue of joining hands with Shivpal Singh Yadav in the polls, but it is likely to be dismissed by the party brass.
Recently, Shivpal had said that his party would ally with the SP in the 2022 polls but Akhilesh had not responded. During Holi celebrations, the entire Yadav family was in Saifai and Akhilesh was seen touching the feet of his estranged uncle Shivpal.
If the SP decides to go solo, it would be the first such instance since Akhilesh took over reins of the party. In the 2017 Assembly polls, the SP had allied with Congress while in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, it had forged an alliance with arch rival BSP and Rashtriya Lok Dal. But in both instances, the strategy failed to yield the desired results and the alliances were later called off.
A decision could also be taken on making the party proactive with focus on protests and dharnas. Bicycle rallies and public gatherings may also be organised, directions for which could be issued in the meeting.