SP dons 'soft Hindutva' colours, to launch campaign from UP pilgrim centre

Lucknow, June 4 (IANS) Following its decision to pursue 'soft Hindutva', the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh will be launching its election campaign for the Lok Sabha elections from Naimisharanya Dham -- a revered Hindu pilgrim centre in central UP.

The party is holding training camps for its cadres.

The first training camp will be held in Lakhimpur Kheri on June 5 followed by the second in Sitapur.

The two districts are known for their Hindu religious sites -- Devkali and Naimisharanya Dham.

"The venues are selected keeping in mind the logistics needed for organising the camp like accommodation and food for the participants. That the two districts have Hindu religious places has come as an added feature of being auspicious," said an SP leader.

Chaired by party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the training camps will also be addressed by senior leaders Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav, along with other top leaders.

Once the training camps get over, expectedly by August, the party leadership will appoint a team of senior leaders for every parliamentary constituency, to gather feedback from the people, in general, and party leaders, in particular, about the electoral prospects of the likely candidates.

Party leaders said the training camps and collection of feedback will be held in every Lok Sabha constituency, including seats that the party may spare for allies such as the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

The two exercises are part of the SP's internal preparation for the elections.

"The idea is to prepare the cadres for taking on the political rivals, that is the BJP and its allies. The camps will be held in all 80 constituencies. We did the same in the run up to the 2022 Assembly polls when camps for party workers from a bunch of constituencies were clubbed together," said a senior party leader.

The practice of organising training camps was first introduced by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav after the party was founded in 1992.

The practice has continued since then. In the run up to the 2017 UP elections and then the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, SP leadership had held such training camps where cadres were appraised of the party's plans for the elections.

"Each training camp will be spread across two days and will be attended by thousands of party workers. Senior leaders will interact with workers at the grassroots level and their leaders at the district level. Camps offer direct interaction with the workers," said party secretary and former minister Rajendra Chaudhary.

He said apart from the party president and secretary general, party general secretaries and veterans will also address sessions.

Sources in SP said the leadership has prepared a parliamentary constituency specific blueprint of the silent features that will be taken up at the training camps.

Party strategists take into account the present issues of the particular constituency along with its demography to chalk out an action plan to contest the elections in the particular constituency. The strategy has been effective in instilling confidence among cadres and galvanizing the foot soldiers as well.