Akhilesh Yadav will soon be seen in a new role as the leader of opposition in Uttar Pradesh’s state assembly. He was elected by the Samajwadi Party MLAs for the post at a key party meet on Saturday. The former UP chief minister had quit as the Lok Sabha MP from Azamgarh on Monday. He won his first state assembly election from Karhal in the family bastion of Mainpuri earlier this month.
“The Samajwadi Party’s newly elected MLAs unanimously chose the party’s national president, Akhilesh Yadav, as the leader of the legislators’ group,” the SP state chief, Naresh Uttam Patel, told reporters on Saturday.
After months of hectic campaigning and seven rounds of voting, Uttar Pradesh had delivered its verdict on March 10. The BJP combine retained the state for a second term with 273 seats while the Samajwadi Party won 111 of 403 seats in the state assembly.Akhilesh Yadav, however, had said the results this time were a proof that the seats of the BJP – which is honing its image as a formidable political party – can be reduced. The ruling party – and allies – had won 325 seats in the 2017 state elections.
Despite ending up as a runner-up in the state polls, Akhilesh Yadav has continued his relentless attacks. On Friday, soon after Yogi Adityanath took oath for a second term in front of 70,000 plus crowd at a mega event, Yadav tweeted: “I congratulate the new government for taking oath in a stadium that was built by the SP government. The oath should not be forming the government alone but serving the people of the state too.”
