SP banks on PDA powerplay for bypolls, kicks off cycle yatra

LUCKNOW The Samajwadi Party, which banked upon its ‘Pichhda Dalit Alpsankhyak’ (PDA) formula in 2024 Lok Sabha elections, wants to use this tried and tested formula again in the upcoming by-elections to 10 seats in UP. On Gandhi Jayanti, the party launched its ‘Samvidhan Bachao PDA Samajik Nyay Cycle Yatra’ from Azamgarh, which will culminate in Milkipur, Ayodhya, on October10, which is also the death anniversary of late SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The yatra will pass through Bilariyagnj, Maharajganj, Kaptanganj, Atrauliya, Jalalpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Katehri and culminate in Milkipur (Ayodhya), where a Samajwadi PDA Panchayat will be organised.
Flagging off the Yatra, SP MLA and former minister Durga Prasad Yadav said, “We want to give out a message of peace and brotherhood to everyone. There is joblessness everywhere and the government is busy misleading people for its vested interest. In the Lok Sabha polls, PDA people along with INDIA bloc worked very hard, and in 2027 also, we will form the government and Akhilesh Yadav will become chief minister of UP again.”
SP district president (Azamgarh) Havaldar Yadav, “We are taking out this Yatra to save the Constitution and reservation. It will culminate in Faizabad on October 10 with a huge gathering in the presence of Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad.”
The 10 assembly seats for which bypolls will be held include Katehri in Ambedkar Nagar, Karhal in Mainpuri, Milkipur in Ayodhya, Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Majhawan in Mirzapur, Sisamau in Kanpur Nagar, Khair in Aligarh, Phulpur in Prayagraj and Kundarki in Moradabad.
Speaking on the SP banking on the PDA formula again, SP spokesperson Sunil Singh ‘Sajan’ said, “PDA is our priority and also a part of our strategy. It stopped Modi ji from getting absolute majority in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The way conspiracies are being hatched in UP to snatch reservation from PDA people and the way atrocities are being committed on them by the BJP regime, the saffron party now knows that PDA is the factor that can defeat and finish them.”
“PDA Yatra along with PDA panchayats are being held all across the state as we are trying to know the reasons for our success and our failure as well in some districts. The strategy will wipe off the BJP in 2027 UP assembly polls. In the by-elections, we will retain the seats won by us, and also those of the BJP and its allies,” he added.