Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is expected to be re-elected as the SP national president. (File)
The Samajwadi Party (SP) is set to elect its party national president and also discuss its strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in its October 5 national convention in Agra. At the convention, to be held at Targhar Maidan, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is expected to be re-elected as the SP national president.
The national convention next month is likely to see the passage of several political resolutions and could lead to fixing the strategy on forging coalitions with non-BJP parties for the 2019 elections. Last month, BSP chief Mayawati had said her party will become a part of any joint campaign only after non-BJP parties finalised the seat-sharing formula for the polls.
SP national vice-president and Rajya Sabha MP Kiranmay Nanda said the party’s constitution has been amended and now, the national conference will be held once in every five years. “The election of the president and the whole national executive committee will take place once in five years. This will be the last national conference before the 2019 elections, so the strategy for the polls will be discussed,” he added.
Refusing to comment on the SP leadership discussing Mayawati’s proposal of finalising the seat-sharing formula in advance, Nanda said he will be able to comment only after seeing the list of political resolutions that will come up for discussion at the convention. However, he added, “Our aim is to oust BJP from the Centre. This government has not performed on the development front. There was talk of a ‘India Shining’ campaign before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, but the BJP had lost. The same thing may happen in 2019.”
Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said while the national executive meeting will take place on October 4, the convention will be held on October 5 when the “strategy for 2019 polls will be discussed”.
