After loss, SP sacks 40 spokespersons

NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: The axe has fallen on Samajwadi Party (SP) spokespersons and TV panelists.

The entire panel of about 40 members who represented the Uttar Pradesh party in TV debates were removed on Friday in what was seen as a direct fallout of the failure of the grand alliance — between the SP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) — in the Lok Sabha elections.

The alliance managed to win only 15 seats in Uttar Pradesh, of which the BSP bagged 10 and the SP five. In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 62 seats.

A Samajwadi Party statement sent to media offices said the entire team of panelists was being disbanded with immediate effect. Party leader Rajendra Chaudhary, in the letter, asked media houses not to invite any of them for their programmes and barred the panelists from discussing the issue in the media.

When contacted, a spokesperson for SP president Akhilesh Yadav said, “A new team will be formed soon.” No reasons were given on why the decision was taken.

One of the panelists, however, said the team had been disbanded to prevent any explanation from being given for the poor showing by the alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. “The party has not taken any view or done any postmortem yet about the results. So, it doesn’t make sense for the panelists to go and opine on the party’s behalf,” he said, not wishing to be identified.

Akhilesh suffered a major setback in the polls with his wife, Dimple Yadav, failing to retain Kannauj, the family bastion. SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav’s nephew, Dharmendra Yadav, also lost. The outgoing team of panelists included IP Singh, Juhie Singh and Anurag Bhadoria, among others.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh on Friday asked party workers to get ready with a new resolve to win people’s confidence and begin preparing for the 2022 UP assembly polls. In a message to the party, Akhilesh said he accepted the verdict and was thankful to the public and workers.