After Jayant's exit, PDA turbulence hits SP over Akhilesh's Rajya Sabha picks

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav’s pick of his party’s candidates for the ensuing Rajya Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh has cast a long shadow over his otherwise formidable social engineering plank against the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls due in two months. The storm brewing within the SP and its two-year-old alliance with some caste-based parties of the state comes close on the heels of Yadav’s ally and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary somersaulting to the BJP-led NDA coalition.

For the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats that it hopes to win from UP, the SP has fielded Dalit leader Ramjilal Suman, former UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan and renominated actor-politician Jaya Bachchan, whose fourth term in Parliament’s Upper House came to an end earlier this month. The reason for disquiet within the SP ranks over the candidates is obvious: Yadav has pivoted his entire Lok Sabha poll pitch around the empowerment of PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak or Backwards, Dalits and Minorities) but two of his three choices for the RS polls – Ranjan and Bachchan – belong to the forward Kayastha community. Suman, a Dalit, is the lone PDA representative.

'We can’t cheat PDA like this'

First signs of the rebellion brewing within the SP came on Tuesday (February 13) with party MLC and OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who had quit the BJP to join Yadav ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly polls, resigning from the post of SP general secretary. Maurya claimed he had resigned from the post on account of being undermined by other party colleagues and the SP leadership not backing him on his tirades against the BJP’s Hindutva narrative. Party insiders, however, told The Federal that Maurya had hoped that as per the PDA plan, Yadav would either elevate him to the Rajya Sabha or, at the very least, give the ticket to one of his aides from the OBC community.

Then on Wednesday, Pallavi Patel from the SP’s ally Apna Dal (Kameravadi), announced that she would not vote in the Rajya Sabha polls; an act of dissent against the tickets given to Bachchan and Ranjan. Pallavi, who had contested the 2022 UP polls on the SP symbol and defeated deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in the Sirathu constituency, told The Federal that her decision to not vote for the SP’s candidates was meant to “remind Akhilesh Yadav that we can’t be fighting for PDA empowerment while denying tickets to backward caste and minority leaders... we can’t cheat PDA like this”.

Sources in the SP and Apna Dal (K) said Pallavi’s dissent stemmed from Yadav’s refusal to grant a Rajya Sabha ticket to her mother and Apna Dal (K) president Krishna Patel. Unlike Pallavi, who contested and won the 2022 Assembly poll on the SP’s poll symbol, Krishna, had failed to enter the UP Assembly after losing the Pratapgarh seat, which she had contested on her own party’s symbol and with the backing of the SP.

What SP insiders say

Ever since her defeat, sources said, the Apna Dal (K) had been mounting pressure on Yadav to field Krishna as a Rajya Sabha candidate. The SP chief ignored the pleas, say sources close to Pallavi, and in the biennial Rajya Sabha polls held in June 2022, chose to back the candidature of RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary.

“The Apna Dal (K) may not have won any seat in the UP polls but it contributed to the increase in the SP’s vote share and seat tally in several OBC Kurmi and Keori dominated seats of eastern UP and though our alliance lost the polls, we have continued to stand firmly with the SP... on the other hand, Jayant, who the SP chose over Krishna Patel for the Rajya Sabha in 2022, was always negotiating with the BJP and now he has deserted us and joined the NDA. Akhilesh Yadav should have thought of this when he picked the RS candidates this time,” said a source close to Pallavi.

SP insiders claim that while the rebellious outbursts by Swami Prasad Maurya and Pallavi Patel may stem from their vested interests in the RS polls, the issue they have raised over the neglect of PDA faces in the party is genuine. “Every time Akhilesh speaks to the press or addresses a public event, he speaks about empowering PDA; naturally if that pitch is not reflected in the choices he makes, people will lose faith in our narrative. No one is denying that Jaya Bachchan’s contributions to the party as a vocal MP but she has served four terms already and we could have given her a fifth term in the next round of RS polls but why now, why so close to the Lok Sabha elections, when it is obvious that her nomination will dilute our narrative. Fielding Ranjan is even more problematic because he is a rank outsider and has no political stature. What gain does his candidature bring to us electorally in the Lok Sabha,” a senior SP leader said.

Yadav downplays differences

A senior SP MLA echoed similar views. “Your pitch is Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak and you have three Rajya Sabha seats to offer. I think the choice of candidates should have been obvious – one each from the backward class, Dalit and minority community; it would have showed our commitment to PDA. With what face will Akhilesh now talk about PDA during the elections. Some of our leaders had also communicated this to him before the candidates were announced but clearly it had no impact. We have scored a self-goal,” the MLA said.

Yadav, meanwhile, has tried to downplay the differences and defend his picks even as more leaders from his party have, sources say, begun to speak out within the party regarding Bachchan and Ranjan’s candidature. “It is not a big issue. We will sort it out and I am confident that Apna Dal (K) will continue to strengthen our fight against the BJP. The SP is with PDA and one Rajya Sabha election will not change this. The Lok Sabha polls are approaching and you will see our commitment to PDA in our candidate selection; it will continue even with future Rajya Sabha and MLC polls and in organisational appointments,” Yadav told reporters in Mainpuri.