Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has drawn up an ambitious plan to expand the party’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) social coalition deep into traditional Bharatiya Janata Party strongholds ahead of the 2027 UP assembly elections.
Both locations carry strong political symbolism and significant social arithmetic. In Agra, the SP has tasked party’s national general secretary Ramji Lal Suman with organising the western Uttar Pradesh Dalit conference. The region has long been associated with Ambedkarite politics and was once a reliable base for the Bahujan Samaj Party. Samajwadi Party strategists see the Agra event as an opportunity to attract Dalit voters, particularly Jatavs, who influence electoral outcomes across Mathura, Etawah, Hathras, Mainpuri and Firozabad as well. The second leg of the plan takes the party to Gorakhpur. The SP intends to hold its two-day training camp there around Diwali. Local discontent within sections of the Nishad community, currently aligned with the BJP through its ally, and outreach to Brahmins drawing on older political networks in the region are potential openings. Whether the strategy translates into organisational strength and vote transfers will become clearer as the party moves from planning to ground-level execution in the coming months.
Agra and adjoining districts have a substantial Scheduled Caste population—roughly 22% in Agra alone according to the 2011 Census—with the Jatav community forming a decisive voting bloc. However, in the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP won all nine assembly seats in the district. In the last assembly elections, the BJP and its allies dominated the Gorakhpur division, winning 27 of the 28 seats.
The strategy centres on two high-profile events, according to a senior Samajwadi Party leader not willing to be named: A Dalit conference in Agra and a two-day training campaign in Gorakhpur in November. “In eastern UP, the party is already focussing on communities that form part of the BJP’s wider social base, including Nishads, Kurmis and Brahmins,” the senior SP leader said.
This could further broaden the PDA base for the Samajwadi Party just before the crucial UP assembly elections.
