Why Samajwadi Party’s chief whip resigned months before key polls

A power struggle?

However, within the party, Akhtar’s resignation is being seen as “more than a routine organisational change”. Party leaders said the decision was rooted in the growing friction between the party’s parliamentary and organisational leadership in Moradabad, with Akhilesh trying to balance power equations in the region ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

SP leaders said there were persistent complaints from Moradabad MP Ruchi Veera over the functioning of the party’s district unit.

“Veera had repeatedly expressed displeasure to the leadership that local SP leaders and workers were taking instructions from senior MLAs, rather than coordinating with her, despite her being the Lok Sabha representative from Moradabad,” an SP leader said.

While Akhtar on Tuesday tried to de-link issues raised by Veera and his resignation, saying they should not be mixed, the Moradabad MP said she had made the party chief aware of the ongoing situation in the district unit.

“The SP chief knew about the indiscipline. He (Yadav) has been giving various directions to the party leaders for the upcoming Assembly elections, and he must have taken the step taken after giving much thought to it,” Veera added.

Sources said that both leaders were called to Lucknow by Akhilesh as allegations and counter-allegations were increasing.

Party insiders, however, claimed Akhtar had for some time expressed his desire to be relieved of the additional responsibility, and the Moradabad dispute provided the leadership an opportunity to reorganise responsibilities while addressing concerns raised by the local MP.

The issue had also briefly entered political discourse after Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief and UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar claimed that differences existed within the SP leadership, including involving the Moradabad MP. However, Veera had then publicly rejected Rajbhar’s claims.

Who are the two leaders?

Veera, considered close to senior SP leader Azam Khan, was fielded by the party from Moradabad in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in place of sitting MP and veteran leader S T Hasan. She went on to defeat BJP’s S K Singh by over 1 lakh votes.

Akhtar, on the other hand, is one of the SP’s prominent faces in Moradabad district. He won the Kanth Assembly seat in 2022 by defeating the sitting BJP MLA by around 43,000 votes and is regarded as an influential organisational man with close access to the party leadership.

During the SP government from 2012 to 2017, he was a minister with significant portfolios like Panchayati Raj, and Food and Civil Supplies.

Interestingly, Akhtar’s appointment as chief whip last year had come at a politically sensitive moment. Manoj Pandey’s rebellion during the Rajya Sabha elections had embarrassed the SP, prompting Akhilesh to entrust the responsibility to a loyalist.

As the SP begins preparing for the 2027 Assembly elections, ensuring coordination between organisational leaders and elected representatives is likely to remain a key organisational challenge.