Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav
Credit: PTI File photo
Lucknow: As was expected, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday resigned from the Karhal assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh and decided to keep the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat, from where he emerged victorious in the recently concluded polls.
Akhilesh had earlier dropped hints that he might resign as MLA and keep the Kannauj LS seat. "The decision to resign from the UP assembly membership and retain Kannauj was made after consulting party leaders and workers from the two constituencies," said a senior SP leader here.
The leader said that the SP, with 37 MPs, was now a major political force in the country. "We are now the third biggest party in the Lok Sabha in terms of number of members," he said.
SP leaders are said to be of the opinion that Akhilesh's presence in the national capital will help both his stature and enable the party to expand its support base. "We are the second biggest party in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc. We will play a crucial role in national politics," he said.
Although Akhilesh, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the UP Assembly, said that the party would decide who would replace him in that role, sources say that Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav is a likely name. Sources also said that Akhilesh's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav could contest from the Karhal seat.
Awadhesh Prasad, the newly elected SP MP from Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, till now an MLA from the Milkipur seat, also resigned from the membership of the state Assembly. Awadhesh Prasad defeated BJP's Lallu Singh by over 52,000 votes to wrest the prestigious seat from the saffron party.
The SP, which contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with Congress, won 37 seats from the state, with the Congress winning six.
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