Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav was on Saturday appointed leader of the opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
“This is publicly published that Akhilesh Yadav, member of UP legislative assembly and leader of the Samajwadi Party legislature party, is appointed as the leader of opposition in UP legislative assembly under Section 2 (h) of Uttar Pradesh State Legislature (Members Emoluments and Pension) Act, 1980 with effect from 26 March, 2022,” the UP Vidhan Sabha secretariat said in a statement.
The appointment was finalised soon after the SP notified the UP Vidhan Sabha secretariat that Akhilesh Yadav was unanimously elected leader of the Samajwadi Party legislature party.
Earlier in the day, the SP held the first meeting of newly-elected MLAs of the party at its headquarters. “Akhilesh has been unanimously elected as leader of SP legislative party,” Naresh Uttam Patel, party’s state president, said after the meeting.
Akhilesh had resigned on Tuesday from the Lok Sabha by handing over his resignation to Speaker of the Lower House Om Birla. He represented Azamgarh in the Lok Sabha.
The SP chief resigned from the Lok Sabha after winning the Karhal assembly seat in the recently-held Uttar Pradesh elections.
The SP had won five Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections. The party’s strength has reduced to three after the resignations of Akhilesh and SP’s Azam Khan from the Lok Sabha.
In the recently-held UP polls, SP bagged 111 seats -- a significant increase from its 47 seats in 2017. The BJP returned to power in the state with over 250 seats.
{{/usCountry}}In the recently-held UP polls, SP bagged 111 seats -- a significant increase from its 47 seats in 2017. The BJP returned to power in the state with over 250 seats.
{{/usCountry}}At the SP meeting on Saturday, only SP MLAs were invited and none of the MLAs of allied parties, or those who belonged to allies but contested on a SP ticket, were invited, said Naresh Uttam Patel. There will be another meeting on March 28 where even those MLAs will be invited, he said.
RLD, too, holds MLAs’ meet
An ally of the Samajwadi Party -- Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), too, held a meeting of its newly-elected MLAs at its party office in Lucknow.
All eight RLD MLAs attended the meeting, chaired by party chief Jayant Chaudhary. They discussed the poll results and the party’s role in the UP assembly.
“The new MLAs unanimously decided and authorised Chaudhary to select the RLD legislature party leader,” said Anil Dubey, the party’s national spokesperson.
After the meeting, Jayant, along with the eight MLAs and other party leaders, met Akhilesh, who congratulated the RLD MLAs over their victories while the RLD MLAs and Jayant greeted Akhilesh on his becoming the leader of the opposition in the assembly.