SP President Akhilesh Yadav.
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
Samajwadi Party will balance the caste equations through the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. This will send a message to the public that PDA (Backward, Dalit and Muslim) is its top priority. Serious deliberations are going on within the party regarding this.
Till now Akhilesh Yadav was the leader of opposition in the assembly, but after being elected as MP from Kannauj, he has resigned from the assembly. Now he will focus more on national politics. Here, the name of former cabinet minister and Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Yadav is leading in the race for the leader of opposition in the assembly. MLAs Indrajit Saroj, Ram Achal Rajbhar and Kamal Akhtar are also in the race.
According to sources, while choosing the leader of the opposition, Akhilesh Yadav will keep in mind who will prove to be more capable of aggressively cornering the BJP government in the House. Encouraged by the results of the Lok Sabha elections, the SP has decided to follow the strategy of aggressively attacking the policies of the BJP. Only the leader who can live up to this strategy will become the leader of the Samajwadi Party in the Assembly.
Till now, SP did not have the post of Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council because it did not have 10 percent members for this. With the swearing in of three newly elected members of SP recently, it has got sufficient numbers for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Upper House as well.
Lal Bihari Yadav, leader of the SP party in the Legislative Council, is said to be ahead in the race. However, other names being considered include Rajendra Chaudhary, Jasmine Ansari and Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali. According to SP sources, Akhilesh will take a decision about the leader of opposition in both the houses of UP during the Parliament session starting from June 24.