What’s behind Akhilesh’s 351-seat projection for SP
LUCKNOW : For nearly a month, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has been saying that his party will win 351 seats in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Yadav, who was UP chief minister from 2012 to 2017, first mentioned the figure in Fatehpur on February 17, nearly three years after the SP was routed in the assembly polls, winning only 47 seats against its tally of 224 in 2012. The halfway mark in the 403-member UP assembly is 203.
So where did, the figure of 351 come from?
“No. We did not go to our war room with statisticians and came up with the figure of 351. But this target-setting is not farfetched. In 2007, Bahujan Samaj Party won 206 seats and formed the first full majority government in the state since 1991. Since then, the victory tally has been on the rise. The Samajwadi Party won 224 seats in 2012, and the BJP bagged 312 in 2017,” said a young Samajwadi Party legislator considered close to Akhilesh Yadav.
A former Samajwadi Party minister said: “The party’s national executive meeting in Lucknow on March 14 may pass a resolution on the 351-seat target.”
Party legislator Anand Bhadauria said: “We are ready for any target that our party president gives us. The BJP is on its way out. We are not only the only alternative, but the best option for the voters.” Bhadauria is a member of the legislative council (MLC).
The Samajwadi Party has already coined ‘Dobara Akhilesh (Akhilesh again)’ tagline for its 2022 poll run.
Professor SK Dwivedi, a political analyst who watches the Uttar Pradesh politics closely, said: “It’s nothing new for political leaders and parties to make lofty projections. They do it even when they are sure that they are going to lose.
But such targets also have political psychology behind it. By repeating the figure of 351 frequently, Akhilesh Yadav is playing smart.
He is attempting to project the party in the public mind as the only viable option. As of now, the Congress shows no promise; the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) looks weak.
And pubic sentiments towards BJP are fast changing. All the more, since 1989, UP voters have not repeated a government. Polls are still two years away, let’s see what happens till then. But, this is the right time to make projections.”
Dwivedi is a retired head of the department of political science, Lucknow University.
He also says: “Akhilesh should stick to his decision of going it alone in 2022. He has tried both the Congress and BSP and both the times it looked like self-sabotage.”
Samajwadi Party state president Naresh Uttam Patel, who happens to be from Fatehpur (where Akhilesh first mentioned 351) said: “The state unit of the party is ready to work hard for the party to overshoot the target of 351 set by the national president. The target is not farfetched. One can see its reflection in public sentiments. Voters are now restive to vote the BJP out and bring in the SP.”
The young Samajwadi Party legislator quoted earlier says: “If we do a combination of seats that SP won in 2012 and 2017 and also add the number of seats on which we came second; the resultant figure would be somewhere close to 351. Maybe Akhilesh chose 351 as it also sounds auspicious.”