Mulayam meets senior SP leaders to review poll result

Faced with rout in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Mulyam Singh Yadav on Sunday met senior party leaders here to review the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

Yadav, who was nursing the ambition of a big role at the Centre before the polls, met the leaders, including SP’s state president Akhilesh Yadav to discuss the poor performance of the ruling party.

The ruling party in the state was reduced to 5 seats in the polls while BJP clinched 71. Congress and Apna Dal got two seats each.

Among the five seats, Yadav alone got two seats-- Mainpuri and Azamgarh. Rest three are Kannauj, Badaun and Firozabad clinched by his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav and nephews Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav respectively 

‘A meeting of all the party candidates who faced defeat will be held here at the party office in a day or two to review party’s performance in the polls,’ a senior party leader said.

The party, sources said, could also make changes in the UP government by removing some ministers and bringing news faces. He may also go for a big overhaul in the party.

In a face saving statement, the party had yesterday said that its position was better than other parties like Congress and BSP and claimed that there was only a slight dent in its voter base.

‘SP got 22.26 per cent votes while in 2009 it got 23.26 per cent votes,’ party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury had said in a statement on Saturday.