Akhilesh Yadav elected as the leader of opposition in legislative council

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party legislators elected former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as the leader of opposition of the legislative council (Vidhan Parishad) on Tuesday.

Yadav was appointed as the opposition leader in a meeting, of SP's legislators, along with party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary, who was named as the leader of opposition, in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.

Senior party leaders namely Azam Khan and Shivpal Yadav, however, remained absent from the meeting. According to the party sources, the two did not attend the meeting as they were upset for not being considered for the role of opposition leader in the assembly. It could be recalled that the Akhilesh had earlier, announced Chaudhary as the opposition leader, ignoring the two close aides of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The formal announcement regarding the two appointments was made by the SP leader Balwant Singh Alhuwaliya.

Akhilesh Yadav is a member of legislative council till May 5, 2018 While Chaudhary has served as the minister of Basic education in former state government. Chaudhary has won the assembly elections for 8 times and is one of the leaders who are close to Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It is worth mentioning that this meeting for the selection of opposition leaders was earlier scheduled to be held on Wednesday and chaired by the party patriarch but was pre-pone by the SP national president.