Akhilesh Yadav Elected As Samajwadi Party Chief For Third Term, Aims National Status For Party

<p>Akhilesh Yadav was on Thursday elected as president of the Samajwadi Party for a third term, PTI reported. Addressing party workers, Akhilesh asked them to bring together the followers of Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar and socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia, and make SP a national party.</p> <p>Yadav (49), who will lead the party in both the 2027 elections in Uttar Pradesh and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, asserted that Mulayam Singh Yadav, the SP's founder, always wanted the SP to become a national party.</p> <p>"We struggled for it and tried a lot. On this day, when you are giving me another term of five years, we should all take a pledge that the next time we meet the SP becomes a national party," PTI quoted Akhilesh as saying.</p> <p>The SP at present is a state party in accordance with the Election Commission's requirements.</p> <p>Yadav was elected unopposed following the due process, the SP said in a statement.</p> <p>"It should be the effort of the socialists that those who follow the principles of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (socialist idealogue) be brought together to work towards saving the Constitution and democracy," Yadav told the partymen at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan.</p> <p>He asked SP workers to make their booth the strongest so that not a single vote is missed. Yadav alleged that at the behest of BJP booth incharges, at least 20,000 votes from the SP core base (Yadav and Muslims) in every assembly constituency were removed in the last state assembly polls.</p> <p>"If you want, get it checked. It was part of BJP's strategy. Despite all these wrongdoings, a BJP government would not have been formed had we fought and increased votes by just two-three per cent in our strong booths," he said.</p> <p><strong><em>(With PTI inputs)</em></strong></p>

from india
https://ift.tt/twHEFvO