After LS rout, SP to revise strategy to take on resurgent BJP

After suffering a severe jolt in the recent Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party will re-draw its strategy to deal with a resurgent BJP in Uttar Pradesh at its three-day national convention beginning here tomorrow.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is all set to be re-elected as the national president of the party for the ninth time, is expected to give a clear signal to workers to put a check on "behaviour" of some of its cadres which has been drawing flak and overshadowing the development works being undertaken by the state government.
The convention, billed to be attended by representatives from all over the country, will deliberate at length on the "shortcomings" in the 22-year-old organisation which led to the "unexpected" results in Lok Sabha election and would formulate an appropriate strategy for the future, SP sources said.

SP won five of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in May, a sharp drop from 21 seats it held in the previous House.
The party, however, got some solace when it wrested eight assembly seats from BJP, including one held by its ally Apna Dal, in bye-elections to 11 seats last month, just four months after the saffron party's near-sweep of the Lok Sabha seats.
The party is expected to re-draw its strategy in keeping with the emergence of BJP as the "main challenger" in place of BSP and Congress in the next assembly election in 2017, they said.

On the first day of the meet, the party's political and economic resolutions would be discussed. These would be adopted the next day. On the last day, there will be an open session which will be addressed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mulayam and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will unveil a 25-feet high statue of socialist leader Janeshwar Mishra during the convention.
Meanwhile, tight security arrangements have been made for the convention, IG (Law and Order) A Satish Ganesh told reporters here.