Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been unanimously elected as the leader of the SP legislature party at a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs of the party today. This paves the way for setting up of a direct contest between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav inside the Uttar Pradesh assembly as the latter is all set to become Leader of Opposition in the state assembly.
This is the first time Akhilesh will play the role of Leader of Opposition. After the 2017 poll debacle, he was elected to the Lok Sabha during the 2019 polls while Ram Govind Chaudhary played the role of the LoP. Akhilesh Yadav’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Leader of Opposition between 2007-2009.
Briefing reporters after the first meeting of the newly-elected MLAs at the party headquarters, Uttar Pradesh SP chief Naresh Uttam said Yadav has been elected as the leader of the legislature party. Akhilesh Yadav had recently resigned from his Lok Sabha membership from Azamgarh after being elected to the Uttar Pradesh assembly from the Karhal seat in Mainpuri.
The Samajwadi Party had won five Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections. The party’s strength will be reduced to three after the resignations of Yadav and SP’s Azam Khan are accepted by the Speaker.
Uttam said under Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership, the Samajwadi Party will raise the issues concerning people in the Assembly and oppose the false claims and wrong policies of the state government.
In the recently held elections of Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party bagged 111 seats, which is a massive increase from 47 seats in 2017. The BJP returned to power in the state with over 250 seats in Uttar Pradesh.