Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav was on Saturday appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. A press note released by the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Secretariat said Mr. Yadav had been appointed as the LOP under Section 2h of the UP State Legislature (Members Emoluments and Pension) Act, 1980.
Mr Yadav won the Karhal Assembly seat and had recently resigned from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat to lead the party in the Assembly.
With 111 representatives, the SP is the second largest group in the Assembly. Together with its alliance partners, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, it has 125 legislators. The SP alliance is expected to provide a strong opposition to the BJP which has 255 members.
Shivpal Yadav, president of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya), who won the Jaswantnagar seat on SP’s election symbol was conspicuous by his absence during the meeting to elect Mr. Akhilesh Yadav. The older Mr Yadav told a news agency that he was disappointed at not being invited though he had come to Lucknow for two days just to attend the meeting.
However, SP president Naresh Uttam Patel said only the MLAs of the SP were called for the meeting. “The alliance partners, irrespective of the symbol they contested on, have been called for a meeting on March 28,” he said.
