SP's 'PDA' cadre to reach out to weaker communities

After coining the 'Picchda Dalit Alpsankhyak' (PDA) slogan to counter the BJP-led NDA, the Samajwadi Party is now building a booth-level cadre comprising Dalits, backward class and minorities in a strategic move to cement its prospects at the grassroots level for the 2024 polls.

Committees of 15 party workers will be constituted at each polling booth, and will have representatives from backward class, Dalits and minorities, with the mix varying from whether it is a Dalit-dominated village or a minority-dominated one, a senior party leader said. The committee of workers exclusively from the weaker communities will help the party influence the communities to support the SP as well as counter any propaganda against it.

"The PDA strategy is being implemented through polling booths. We are also conducting a Samvidhan Bachao and Jan Chaupal program," Mithai Lal Bharti, president of SP's Ambedkar Vahini (Dalit wing) told ET, adding that the primary message of the party is social justice and protection of democracy.


According to PTI, for the PDA cadre, the party has also prepared software to feed details of booth-level workers. The SP has had Yadavs and Muslims as its core voter base, but has created some space within non-Yadav OBCs as well as Dalits, against a dormant BSP in recent times. It is now pitching itself as a champion of social justice, raising its voice in the favour of caste census, against private outsourcing of jobs, etc to garner a formidable vote share with Dalits making for 22% of the state's population, minorities 19% and OBCs more than 50%.