The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have started preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Samajwadi Party leadership has already decided that no minister of the state government and legislators would be allowed to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
While the Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has asked party men to be prepared for Lok Sabha polls “anytime in 2013”, the Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati has already started the process of selecting candidates for the general elections.
At a meeting held here on Tuesday, SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav appointed 58 observers for the 58 parliamentary constituencies in which the party faced defeat in the 2009 general elections. The idea behind this is to assess the factors that led to the defeat of SP candidates on these constituencies and to brace up for a fresh battle.
According to sources, Mr Yadav has given party men a target of winning at least 50 seats. He has asked party workers to fan out into the constituencies and make the people aware of the pro-people policies being pursued by the Akhilesh Yadav government. He further asked the newly-appointed observers to travel to the constituencies, talk to people, cadres and the local leadership to gauge the mind of the electorate and deliberate on local issues before submitting a detailed report to the national leadership by the end of July.
The BSP, on the other hand, has asked party leaders to draw up a list of the failures of the Akhilesh Yadav government. The party plans to design its campaign on the failures of the SP government in UP and the Congress government at the Centre.
Ms Mayawati, it is reliably learnt, is planning to revamp the party organisation within the next one month and make is more responsive to the people. She will shortly reconstitute the Bhaichara committees that cater to various caste groups.
Ms Mayawati is aware that lack of communication between her and the party cadres was one of the main reasons for the BSP’s dismal performance in the assembly elections. This time, she is dealing with all issues related to her party on her own and wants to use the growing disenchantment with the SP government to her party’s advantage.