SP’s new jumbo NE; Shivpal, Maurya among 14 general secretaries

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party declared its 63-member national executive on Sunday with Akhilesh Yadav as its national president and his uncle Shivpal Yadav as a general secretary.
Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently stirred controversy over his remarks on Ramcharitmanas, and veteran leader Azam Khan are also among the 14 general secretaries.
Criticising Maurya’s appointment, the BJP alleged that the “anti-Hindu and casteist face” of Akhilesh Yadav has come to the fore, while the Congress said it is now clear at whose behest Maurya gave the unfortunate statement.
The SP on Sunday released the list of 62 national executive members on its Twitter handle.
In 2016, Shivpal Yadav, the then SP’s Uttar Pradesh unit president had an open feud with the then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and was sacked from Uttar Pradesh Cabinet. Sidelined in the party, Shivpal Yadav formed the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) in 2018 and contested against his nephew Akshay Yadav from Firozabad.
After their show of unity in Mainpuri, there was speculation that he may be formally rehabilitated in the party.
A former minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, Maurya switched from the BJP to the SP before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and lost from the Fazilnagar seat.
The other national general secretaries are Ravi Prakash Verma, Balram Yadav, Vishwambhar Prasad Nishad, Awadhesh Prasad, Indrajeet Saroj, Ramjilal Suman, Lalji Verma, Ram Achal Rajbhar, J Antony, Harendra Malik and Neeraj Chowdhury.
While Akhilesh Yadav will continue to hold the post of national president, Kiranmoy Nanda will be national vice president and Ram Gopal Yadav will continue as national principal general secretary.
Sudip Ranjan Sen will be the party treasurer, while there will be 19 national secretaries, including Madhu Gupta, Kamal Akhtar, Rajendra Chowdhury, Rajiv Rai and Abhishek Mishra.
Jaya Bachchan, Abu Asim Azmi, Ram Govind Chowdhury, Pawan Pandey, Lilawati Kushwaha, Ujjwal Raman Singh, Akshay Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav and Raj Kumar Mishra are among the party’s national executive members.