Akhilesh redraws ‘PDA’ to woo upper castes; rhetoric may not be enough, say political analysts

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav’s move to expand his ‘PDA’ (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) plank to include Brahmins and Baniyas is being viewed by analysts as an attempt to fracture the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s core base ahead of the Assembly election. 

However, they caution that the SP’s improved tally in the Legislative Council polls, where it won five of the 11 seats with the BJP bagging the remaining, may not automatically translate into broader electoral gains without a concrete policy road map.