Indian politician and the current President of Samajwadi Party (SP), Akhilesh Yadav, today was unanimously elected as the Leader of the SP Legislature Party.

The leader was selected at a meeting of party legislators, in both the Houses of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature.

Both SP veterans, Azam Khan and Shivpal Singh Yadav, were noticed by their absence from the meeting.

SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said, the former chief minister at the  meeting of SP MLAs and MLCs, was unanimously elected as the combined leader of the party in both the state Assembly and Council.

Furthermore, Akhilesh was also authorized to select the leader of the party in the Legislative Council.

Akhilesh is a member of the Upper House, where senior SP leader Ahmed Hasan leads the party.

The SP chief, yesterday had nominated senior most party MLA Ram Govind Chaudhary as the leader of the SP in the Assembly, paving the way for Chaudhary to become the Leader of Opposition (LOP).

Both Azam Khan and Shivpal Singh Yadav, who were strong contenders for the post of LOP in the assembly, failed to find favor with Akhilesh, due to their absence.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), commenting on the choice of Chaudhary for the key post, accused the SP of “acting under BJPs pressure.”

RLD chief Masood Ahmed alleged, “Had Azam Khan, been made the Leader of Opposition, he would have retained his government bungalow.”

“There would also have been no question about his Maulana Jauhar University in Rampur,” he added.

By Supraja