Nanda elevated as SP’s national vice-president

There is only one post of V-P in the SP and the party constitution specifies that “the vice-president will preside over the national executive or national convention in absence of the president”. This is the second seniormost position in the party organisation. The post of SP’s V-P was vacant since the death of Brijbhushan Tiwari in April 2012.

The elevation shows the rising stature of Nanda, who had rejoined the SP in 2010 and was appointed the general secretary. He has slowly emerged as Mulayam’s pointman in Delhi and Kolkata.

Nanda, a product of JP movement, was first elected as an MLA of Janata Party from West Bengal in 1977. He was a minister in a Left Front government in Bengal for nearly two decades till 2011. He was a member of the SP at the time of its formation in 1992 but parted ways in 1998 to form his own party, West Bengal Socialist Party. Nanda joined the SP in 2010. He was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member from UP in April 2012.

When contacted, Nanda said: “I am yet to get an official communication about the elevation from the party but I will continue to work for SP’s expansion in the country. I believe that Mulayam Singh Yadav is the only leader in this country who represents all sections of the society.”

Hierarchy-wise, Nanda is now above SP general secretaries Azam Khan and Ram Gopal Yadav in the party organisation. Nanda’s associate Sudip Sen — president of UP Tourism Corporation — has also been made a member of the party’s national executive committee.