Poll debacle impact-SP to reweave caste equations

Reeling under one of the worst electoral drubbings in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is mulling a complete change in its political strategy and has decided to ''reweave'' caste equations within the party as part of its outreach to the 'non-Yadav' OBCs and the upper castes.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav, party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and some other top leaders of the party held long meetings to discuss the reasons that led to the crushing defeat of the party even in its strongholds in Uttar Pradesh.

SP leaders, who were privy to the deliberations, said that both Akhilesh and Mulayam felt that the party lost heavily as it could not get the support of the OBC communities other than the 'yadavs'.

''Besides we also failed to get the support of the upper castes,'' said an SP leader here while speaking to DH.

The leader said that there was a dearth of strong leaders from other OBC communities and upper castes in the party. ''During the days of Mulayam, we had many strong leaders from non-yadav communities and also upper castes..lack of such leaders proved to be a big obstacle for us to garner votes of these communities,'' he added.

Sources in the party said that Akhilesh would soon go for a major overhauling of the organisation and leaders from these communities were likely to be included and appointed at different levels.

Sources also said that several senior leaders, who held important posts in the organisation, might face the axe and replaced by new faces.

The SP, which had contested the LS polls in alliance with BSP and RLD, could win only five seats. Several senior leaders, including Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav and his two nephews Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav, also lost in their bastions.