Lucknow: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Leader of the Opposition Akhilesh Yadav Monday took oath as members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, starting a new innings of political rivalry in the state.
As Leader of the House, Adityanath was first to take oath, followed by Yadav.
Adityanath won the recent state polls from the Gorakhpur Urban seat and Yadav from Karhal.
Pro-tem speaker Ramapati Shastri administered oath to the newly elected members.
Adityanath welcomed all the newly elected MLAs and expressed hope that they would discharge their duties in accordance with the tradition and decorum of the house.
“I hope all the members will cooperate in the smooth running of the assembly for taking up issues of development of the state,” he told reporters while entering the assembly.
Yadav told reporters that his party would play the role of a responsible opposition.
As Adityanath entered the house, members welcomed him with “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” chants.
Before occupying his seat, Adityanath went to the opposition side and greeted Yadav and other members.
Similarly, when Yadav, sporting a trademark red cap, arrived in the house, legislators from both the treasury and opposition benches greeted him.
Senior minister Surya Pratap Shahi and others went up to Yadav to extend their greetings.
Displaying courtesy, Yadav met the chief minister and others on the treasury benches while going to take oath.
Adityanath took oath amid frenzied chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by his party legislators, whereas the SP members raised ‘Jai Samajwad’ slogans during Yadav’s turn.
After the two bigwigs, senior BJP MLA Satish Mahana took oath.
Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak was next to do so. Speculations are rife about Mahana becoming the new Speaker of the UP Assembly.
Subsequently, ministers and other members went to the podium to take oath as members of the 18th Legislative Assembly.
After fiercely fought seven-phase assembly elections, Adityanath and Yadav, the former being months elder to the latter, would be face-to-face in the house.
The BJP-led NDA secured two-thirds majority winning 273 seats in the 403-member House, while the SP-headed opposition alliance managed to get 125 seats.
Unlike in the first term of the BJP government when Adityanath and Akhilesh were MLC and MP respectively, both contested the elections this time and were elected MLAs.
With the crucial 2024 parliamentary elections and many other poll battles in hand before the state goes for the next big fight in 2027, the two leaders would be guiding their sides to further strengthen their positions.
The 48-year-old Yadav, who was the chief minister of UP from 2012-17, is serving as the opposition leader for the first time.
His father Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had been the chief minister thrice, also served as the opposition leader as many times — in 1985, 1995 and 2007.
Reports suggested that Akhilesh Yadav’s absence from the state politics, being MP from Azamgarh, had not gone well for his party in the February-March assembly polls.
After his election to the assembly, Yadav quit as MP.
With the BSP and the Congress being decimated in the polls, the future poll battle in the politically important state appears to be bipolar between the BJP and the SP.