Akhilesh Yadav Set To Become Leader Of Opposition in UP Assembly

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was elected as the leader of the SP legislative party during a meeting of newly elected party MLAs in Lucknow on Saturday. Akhilesh won the Karhal seat in Mainpuri by 60,000-odd votes, beating BJP MP SP Singh Baghel.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the SP Legislative Party and Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. In a meeting held at the party’s headquarters on Saturday which was attended by all the newly-elected MLAs and members of the legislative council, the decision was taken.

“Akhilesh Yadav has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the SP Legislative Party. The process of electing the Leader of Opposition will be done in Assembly, the party will write and send and it will be done there,” Naresh Uttam Patel, State President, Samajwadi Party said.

Yadav has already resigned on Tuesday from the Lok Sabha by handing over his resignation to Speaker of the Lower House Om Birla. He was representing Azamgarh in the Lok Sabha.

The SP leader resigned from the Lok Sabha after winning the recently held Uttar Pradesh elections from the Karhal Assembly seat.

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.

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.

Akhilesh won the Karhal seat in Mainpuri by 60,000-odd votes, beating BJP MP SP Singh Baghel. It was his first Vidhan Sabha election. In 2019, he won as an MP from Azamgarh; his fourth parliamentary win. In 2012, when he became the chief minister, he had chosen the MLC route to the Assembly