Recently, PM Modi in his Saharanpur rally said, “Look at the situation of the Samajwadi Party… They are changing their candidates every hour.” Lack of clarity, indecision, or last-minute adjustments, call it whatever you want for Samajwadi party has given tickets to around 17 candidates on 7 seats and changed 10 candidates on the same.
Samajwadi Party and It’s Musical Chair
The party first announced Mahendra Nagar as its candidate for the Gautam Budh Nagar seat. Later on Samajwadi party changed it to Rahul Awana and then back to Mahendra Nagar.
Similarly, in Meerut SP first named Bhanu Pratap Singh as the candidate, then Atul Pradhan, and finally Sunita Verma to challenge BJP’s Arun Govil.
In Moradabad, The Samajwadi Party had originally announced ST Hasan, the existing MP, as its candidate. Suddenly, Ruchi Veera was added at the last minute.
Similar to this, the SP abruptly switched their candidate in Baghpat from Manoj Chaudhary to Amarpal Sharma.
The party substituted Deepak Saini for Yashveer Singh as its candidate in Bijnor.
The Samajwadi party had initially declared Rampal Rajvanshi as the candidate in Misrikh. He was then succeeded by his son Manoj Kumar Rajvanshi and his daughter-in-law Sangita Rajvanshi.
Then coming to Badaun, Shivpal Yadav, was declared as the candidate; however, Shivpal now desires that his son receive the ticket.
Currently, Samajwadi leader, Ravi Mehrotra is contesting against BJP’s Rajnath Singh in Lucknow. However, rumours seem to suggest that Luv Bhargava might take his place.
The party cadres are complaining that the game of musical chairs is becoming exhausting. The leaders who were initially announced as candidates and then removed are left with a sour taste in their mouths.
While the game of musical chairs and the reshuffles have made the candidates restless. The senior SP officials maintain that the decisions were made based on public sentiment and the recommendations of local leaders from the constituencies.