SP's priority is 2027 UP polls; national party status will take time: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow, Nov 10 (PTI) Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that the party's foremost priority is to win the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and form a government committed to social justice, while reiterating that the SP's long-term goal is to achieve national party status.

Speaking at a press conference at the SP headquarters in Lucknow, Yadav said, "It is our collective dream, including Netaji's (late Mulayam Singh Yadav, party founder), that the Samajwadi Party becomes a national party. But for that, we will have to wait till the 2029 elections because a national party cannot be formed so quickly. The Election Commission has set certain standards which must be fulfilled." Yadav, however, said the immediate focus of his party is the 2027 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, where it seeks to establish a "government of social justice".

He accused the current BJP government of "destroying" educational and medical institutions and making arbitrary appointments.

"The people in power have ruined educational and medical institutes and yet claim that they have opened 80 medical colleges. Despite that, people are not getting treatment. Uttar Pradesh is such a large state, yet it does not have proper facilities for diseases like cancer. People have to travel to Delhi or Mumbai for treatment," he said.

Accusing the government of deliberately weakening public healthcare and education systems to benefit private players, he asserted that justice, equality and dignity will prevail in Uttar Pradesh only when the BJP government is voted out.

Samajwadi Party (37) is currently the third largest party in the Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress. In UP, SP was sent out of power in the 2017 elections by the BJP and again in the 2022 polls. PTI KIS AMJ AMJ