In an effort to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Parliamentary polls in 2024, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is holding training camps at different places. The third training camp began in Banda on Wednesday. On the first day, state party president, Naresh Uttam Patel, and the party’s General Secretary, Shivpal Yadav, engaaged with workers about the strategy for the election. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will address the workers on Thursday.
The training camp in Banda assumes more significance compared to the previous two ones, especially after the formation of I.N.D.I.A.
During his time in Banda, the SP chief will not only receive feedback from the workers but also address them directly. Although the training camps are expected to focus primarily on the problems of the Bundelkhand region, it is likely that the SP president will attempt to target his opponents using his PDA formula at this camp.
For the SP, the Bundelkhand region holds importance as the party has not been able to make a mark here in the past two Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, the BJP has secured all four Lok Sabha seats in the region. In the 2014 and 2019 elections, the BJP dominated the Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, and Jhansi constituencies. Similarly, the BJP achieved a one-sided victory in the Assembly elections here. Akhilesh will aim to address this imbalance by engaging with party workers and residents in this area. He will strive to eliminate the dry spell for the SP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The objective behind organising camps in Lakhimpur Kheri’s Gola Gokarnnath and Naimisharanya in Sitapur was on the one hand, to challenge the BJP through soft Hindutva tactics and to address the deteriorating condition of the Samajwadi Party on the other.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, the SP did not win a single seat in Lakhimpur Kheri and had to settle for just one seat in Sitapur. Thus, as Akhilesh Yadav participates in the training camp in Bundelkhand, his intention will be to strengthen the party in the areas where it is weakest.
