The newly elected legislators of Samajwadi Party have authorised Akhilesh Yadav to name leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha as lawmakers blamed media and EVMs for party's debacle in the just concluded elections.
The legislators held a meeting at party office on Thursday. High point of this meeting was Shivpal Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav came face to face for the first time after December 30.
Party's patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav did not attend the meeting.
The meeting, which was described as congratulatory meeting lasted for about 90 minutes. Insiders claim that Shivpal and Akhilesh did not talk to each other in that meeting. Whatever Shivpal had to say he told Azam Khan. The meeting was attended by all the 47 newly-elected MlAs.
The legislators blamed media and faulty EVMs for the defeat of the party. "Media played in the hands of BJP. They only highlighted Modi. Besides, the election was rigged through EVMs. This is not a clean victory for BJP," he said.
During their speeches Shivpal addressed Akhilesh as the party president, but Akhilesh in his address did not take the name of Shivpal for once.
Shivpal said that party failed to keep its regional combination in tact that led to such debacle. Development cannot always take a party across the line. There are other parameters which should be taken care of, he said and added: ''Together we will have to fight and struggle. BJP's lies have won.''
However, Akhilesh refused to accept that development had led to the defeat of the party. "Development would be the agenda of the party in future elections too," he said.
Hinting a revamp in party organisation he announced that national executive meeting would be held on March 25. "We should start preparations for lok Sabha elections. There are just 22 months left for the lok Sabha polls and we should start preparing for it now," he said.
The party President made it clear that the just-concluded elections have seen the 'class divide,' which is very dangerous for the society. He also admitted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised different issues in all the seven phases of the polls, which made the difference and the Opposition was totally unaware of the peoples' sentiments.
Senior SP leader Azam Khan in his speech asked Akhilesh and others not to be depressed with the defeat. "We had suffered such big loss in the past too but we have survived and fought back. This time too we will be more aggressive and give them a befitting reply," he said.
He also raised the issue of Triple Talaq, saying that every individual has the 'personal' right on what he wants to do. "No interference is accepted," he added.
During the meeting, senior SP MlA Narendra Verma proposed to authorise Akhilesh Yadav to decide on the leader of Opposition in the Assembly, which was seconded by all the legislators.