As Akhilesh shifts to Lok Sabha, SP looks to balance caste, oratory factors for new UP LoP

The SP’s best performance prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was in 2004, when it had won 36 seats under the leadership of party founder and then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

A senior SP leader said despite the party’s stellar performance now, Akhilesh’s priority would be to take the Lok Sabha mandate forward and ensure that the support of the people is retained in the 2027 Assembly polls too. “Therefore, the party needs an LoP who can effectively replace Akhilesh, who is all set to retain his Kannauj Lok Sabha seat,” the leader said.

Akhilesh had contested the Karhal Assembly seat in 2022 after quitting as the MP from Azamgarh, a seat which the BJP wrested from the SP in the subsequent bypoll but lost in the recent elections. The SP had emerged as the second largest party behind the BJP in the 2022 UP polls, winning 111 Assembly seats, following which Akhilesh had assumed the LoP post.

Observers say that the SP currently lacks an aggressive orator among its legislators in the Assembly who can react quickly and raise objections on various issues when required. Also, the party lacks a tall leader like Akhilesh, behind whom the MLAs would always rally.

While the SP’s senior-most leader Azam Khan was disqualified from the Assembly following his conviction in a case, former party MLA Ram Govind Chaudhary, whose tenure as the LoP from 2017-2022 was seen as “exemplary” in the party’s history, lost the 2022 polls. Chaudhary was known for being vocal on important issues and was also well-versed with the rules of the House.

The most experienced SP legislator in the current Assembly is Lalji Verma, a six-time MLA, who was one of the most senior leaders of the BSP in the House before his switch to the SP ahead of the 2022 polls, in which he won from Katehari. However, he will also resign soon as the MLA as he has now won from the Ambedkar Nagar seat in the Lok Sabha polls.

With another prominent leader Manoj Kumar Pandey switching to the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections, the party is likely to choose its new LoP from among its senior legislators including Shivpal Yadav (Etawah), Mata Prasad Pandey (Sidharth Nagar), Indrajit Saroj (Kaushambi), Ram Achal Rajbhar (Ambedkar Nagar), Ram Murti Verma (Ambedkar Nagar) and Ravidas Mehrotra (Lucknow).

Shivpal, Akhilesh’s uncle is a six-term MLA, who served as the LoP between 2009 and 2012, is not seen to be a good orator, while Rajbhar and Saroj, like Verma, were in the BSP and had served as ministers in the Mayawati government but have not made their presence felt in the current Assembly.

Mata Prasad, 81, was the Speaker during Akhilesh’s tenure as the CM between 2012 and 2017. He is seen as a good orator but does not attend the House proceedings regularly, given his age.

Mehrotra, on the other hand, is the Lucknow Central MLA, who gave defence minister Rajnath Singh a tough fight in the Lok Sabha polls, is seen as an effective orator who has been raising burning issues in the Assembly.

As the LoP, Akhilesh has led the Opposition’s attacks on the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government. He has been involved in several heated debates with CM Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, which often culminated in personal attacks from both sides. Despite such exchanges, however, the UP Assembly has also witnessed long discussions involving Akhilesh and Adityanath.

A no-holds-barred exchange between Akhilesh and Adityanath took place in February last year over the killing of lawyer Umesh Pal, a witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. Jailed don Atiq Ahmed, who was shot dead along with his brother two months later in April, was accused of plotting the attack on Umesh.

With the Assembly in session, Akhilesh raised the issue in the House even as the CM accused the SP of “sheltering” Atiq and making him an MP. As Akhilesh objected to the remarks, Yogi remarked, “Mafia ko mitti mein mila denge (The mafia will bite the dust).”

Meanwhile, a senior SP leader told The Indian Express that caste equations will also be at play when the party leadership selects the new LoP as it also played a crucial role in the party’s success in the Lok Sabha polls.