The Samajwadi Party on Saturday began its two-day national executive meeting in Kolkata. During the meeting, discussions will be held on the party's policies and strategies for the elections in three Hindi heartland states due later this year and the Lok Sabha polls next year. The party's national executive is being held in Kolkata after a gap of 11 years. Samajwadi Party founder, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav had flown down to the city to chair the previous meeting in the eastern metropolis.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, MP Jaya Bachchan and state unit chiefs from 20 states, and several other leaders were present at the meeting, as reported by the news agency ANI.
"We will discuss the party's strategy for the upcoming elections due later this year in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and then the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. The party will also adopt a political resolution after the meeting," the party's national vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda said, as quoted by the news agency PTI.
Talking to ANI on Friday, Kiranmoy Nanda said, "The preparations are done. The meeting will take place under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav. The meeting will take place on March 18 and 19, and a rally with the party workers will take place on March 17."
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party had on Friday agreed to put up a united fight against the BJP and sought to edge the Congress out of any such formation, stating that the grand old party needs to shed its "big boss attitude".
"It has been decided that the TMC and the SP would unite to fight the BJP. Both the parties would also maintain distance from the Congress," Nanda had told PTI after the meeting. SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said that his party is following a policy of maintaining equal distance from both the BJP and the Congress.