The Samajwadi Party has decided to revise its electoral strategy and focus on tie-ups with small political outfits for the 2022 UP assembly elections.
The SP feels encouraged by the performance of small political parties during the recent Bihar assembly elections. SP and other small political outfits representing Dalit and backward classes are having a relook at their electoral stand after the recent bye-elections to seven UP assembly constituencies showed that split in non-Bharatiya Janata Party votes ultimately benefited the ruling party.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav intends to forge an alliance with smaller parties, which include Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), the outfit floated by his estranged uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who in turn has given a positive response.
The SP had tied up with the Congress in the 2017 UP assembly polls and with the Bahujan Samaj Party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls but failed to halt the BJP juggernaut.
The SP might have a local tie-up with Rashtriya Lok Dal and Mahan Dal in western UP, party sources said.
In the 2012 UP assembly polls, over 200 registered parties had fielded their candidates, while in 2017, there were some 290 local parties vying for electoral laurels.
The BJP had tied up with Apna Dal (Sonelal) headed by Anupriya Patel and the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, keeping in mind their clout among Kurmi and extremely backward classes, respectively.
BJP MLC and UP unit vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the party had cordial ties with its allies and the bonds would get stronger in the days to come.
Sources in Congress also said that the party was toying with the idea of forging an electoral alliance with smaller parties for the 2022 UP assembly polls.
Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram), the political front of Chandrashekhar Azad’s Bhim Army, besides Asaduddin Owaisi’s All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM, Quami Ekta Dal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and Peace Party headed by Dr Ayub are also likely to jump into the fray in the UP assembly polls in 2022.