Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday (July 28) appointed senior party leader Mata Prasad Pandey as Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
In a statement issued, the SP supremo confirmed the speculation about the seven-time MLA from the Itawa constituency in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthnagar district being appointed to the top spot, representing the party in the Assembly.
Significantly, apart from announcing the name of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Yadav also approved the appointments of former state minister and Kanth MLA Kamal Akhtar as the chief whip of the party in the Assembly and Raniganj MLA Rakesh Kumar Verma as the deputy whip.
Notably, the development over the appointment of LoP comes after the seat fell vacant when the SP supremo, and then Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kannauj constituency in the recently concluded elections.
"I will try my best..."
Meanwhile, Mata Prasad Pandey in his first statement to the media after being appointed as leader of the opposition in the UP Assembly said, he will continue to work for the development of the deprived people who have been neglected by this government.
"I will try my best to raise the issues of the deprived people who have been neglected by this government in the Vidhan Sabha. We will raise all issues whether it is in the matter of electricity, law and order, or governance. It is a 5-day session. Now we had requested that the session be extended for another 5 days. Now the government decides how many days it will be. We will try to continue it further so that all the problems can be discussed," the SP leader said.
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