The Samajwadi Party, in a significant move on Sunday, appointed seven-time MLA Mata Prasad Pandey the leader of opposition (LoP) in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
Pandey, 82, a Brahmin leader from eastern UP, will replace SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who resigned as MLA from Karhal seat in Mainpuri district after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj.
After Akhilesh Yadav’s resignation as leader of opposition, it was widely speculated that the SP would choose a leader either from Dalit or Other Backward Classes to bolster its PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) vote bank.
By choosing Mata Prasad Pandey, a Brahmin leader, as leader of opposition in the assembly, the SP has given firm indication that it intends to widen its social base and emerge as frontrunner for capturing power in UP in the 2027 assembly elections.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav has appointed Pandey, SP MLA from Itwa in Siddharth Nagar district, as the leader of opposition in the assembly, a party leader disclosed.
At a meeting held earlier at the SP state office here on Sunday, the party MLAs had authorised Akhilesh Yadav to choose the leader of opposition in the assembly.
The SP has also appointed Kamal Akhtar, the party MLA from Kanth, as the chief whip and Rakesh Kumar alias RK Verma as the deputy whip in the assembly, a party statement stated.
Manoj Pandey, the SP MLA from Rae Bareli, who was the chief whip earlier, had switched loyalty to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party earlier this year ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
“Hearty congratulations and best wishes to senior Samajwadi (Party) leader Shri Mata Prasad Pandey ji on being elected as the leader of opposition in the UP Legislative Assembly!” Akhilesh Yadav said in a post in Hindi on X.
He said Pandey’s rich experience would benefit all SP MLAs, assembly speaker, chief minister and all his ministers and MLAs.
Pandey has held the post of Uttar Pradesh Assembly speaker twice – 2004-2007 when Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister and later during the Akhilesh Yadav headed SP government from 2012-2017.
He was first elected as MLA in 1980 and then in 1985 and 1989. He served as health minister between 1990 and 1991 in the then Janata Dal government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav. He was the labour and employment minister in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government between 2002 and 2004.
