Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav, in a swift decision, has managed to stem the brewing resentment in the party cadres by making some addition in the party’s newly-constituted national executive.
Akhilesh has added four upper caste members and another backward class (OBC) leader to its national executive.
The move comes amid purported talks in some sections of the party over “under-representation of upper castes in the executive”.
Those included in the national executive are Om Prakash Singh, Arvind Singh Gope, Vinay Tiwari, Neeraj Saxena and Ram Prasad Chaudhary.
While Chaudhary is a non-Yadav OBC, the others are upper caste Hindus.
This is the third expansion of the national executive since it was first announced on January 29 afternoon. Originally, the SP’s national body had 62 members.
The same day it increased to 64 members and the executive now has 69 members.
Originally, there were 11 Yadavs, 10 Muslims, 25 non-Yadav OBCs, nine upper castes, six Dalits, a scheduled tribe, and a Christian member. Now, the number of upper caste members in the national executive has gone up to 13. There are 26 non-Yadav OBC members after the expansion.
Veteran party leader Om Prakash Singh, soon after the announcement of the executive, had tweeted his resentment when he wrote, “Yeh alag baat hai ki maine kabhi jataya nahin/magar tu yeh na samajh ki tune dil dukhaya nahin.”
Singh is a normally reticent leader, not known to air his grievances openly. His tweet sent shockwaves within the party circles and the growing resentment was communicated to the SP President.
The amendment in the executive body has now pacified the cadres and party strategists feel that in the coming months, the party would adopt a more inclusive policy.
