Now Reading: Opposition women MPs lead charge for UP assembly polls
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Opposition women MPs lead charge for UP assembly polls
Opposition women MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Dimple Yadav, took centre stage during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, raising issues such as the 33% women's quota and the Jantar Mantar lathi…
Opposition women MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Dimple Yadav, took centre stage during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, raising issues such as the 33% women's quota and the Jantar Mantar lathi charge. Dimple Yadav, the Samajwadi Party MP from Mainpuri, has emerged as a more assertive leader, boosting her public image by helping injured protesters at Jantar Mantar.
Yadav is expected to lead a team of women leaders, Ragini Sonkar, Priya Saroj, Iqra Hasan, and others, to give the SP campaign a softer touch. Her Rajput background may help the party counter the BJP's portrayal of the SP leadership as rowdy and pro-minority.
On the BJP side, Smriti Irani, who lost the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2024, will counter Priyanka Gandhi's influence. The BJP has also appointed Sangeeta Yadav and Rekha Verma as office bearers to reach out to backward castes. Speculation is rife that the Uttar Pradesh government may announce a pre-poll promise of Rs 50,000 to women voters.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Uttar Pradesh sends the largest number of MPs to Parliament, and assembly elections there often set the national political mood. The SP is trying to broaden its appeal beyond its traditional Muslim-Yadav base by fielding women from diverse castes. The BJP, which won a third term nationally in 2024 partly on women's support for welfare schemes, is now trying to hold that coalition by appointing backward-caste women to party posts. A pre-poll cash transfer of Rs 50,000, if announced, would be one of the largest direct benefit pledges to women by any state government. The actual test will be how the SP's women leaders translate parliamentary visibility into ground-level votes in a state where the BJP has dominated since 2017.
The assembly election schedule is expected to be announced by the Election Commission in late 2025 or early 2026.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
