Party veterans Azam Khan and Shivpal Singh Yadav were conspicuous by their absence.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was on Tuesday unanimously elected as the leader of SP Legislature party.
The decision was taken at a meeting of SP legislators, where party veterans Azam Khan and Shivpal Singh Yadav were conspicuous by their absence. At the meeting of SP MLAs and MLCs, the former chief minister was unanimously elected as the combined leader of the party in both the state Assembly and Council, SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said. Besides, Akhilesh was also authorised to pick the leader of the party in the Legislative Council, he added. Akhilesh is a member of the Upper House, where senior SP leader Ahmed Hasan presently leads the party.
Akhilesh had yesterday nominated seniormost party MLA Ram Govind Chaudhary as the leader of the SP in the Assembly, paving the way for his becoming the Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the House. Both Azam and Shivpal, who were considered strong contenders for the post of LOP in the Assembly but failed to find favour with Akhilesh, skipped today's meeting. Commenting on the choice of Chaudhary for the key post, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had accused the SP of "acting under BJP's pressure" and denying the position to Khan.
"SP acted under BJP's pressure to deny the position of LOP to a dynamic and strong leader like Azam Khan, which could have posed problems for them in the legislature," state RLD chief Masood Ahmed alleged.
"Had Khan been made the Leader of Opposition, he would have retained his government bungalow and there would also have been no question on his Maulana Jauhar University in Rampur. So, BJP exerted pressure on Netaji (Mulayam Singh) to stop it," he added. RLD has one MLA in the 403-member state Assembly.
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