Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took a swipe at Samajwadi Party leader and Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav, inviting backlash from the Opposition in the state assembly this morning.
Adiyanath, while beginning his address in the Assembly, congratulated SP veteran Mata Prasad Pandey, who has taken over the reigns of Leader of the Opposition in the House from Akhilesh Yadav. The replacement came after Akhilesh got elected as a Lok Sabha member from the Kannauj constituency in the 2024 general election.
The CM, while speaking to Pandey, said, "You have served as the Speaker of this House twice. I congratulate you on for your selected as the LoP. It's another different matter that you have fooled your uncle (referring to Shivpal who was seated next to Pandey)," Adityanath said.
Taking his attack further, the CM said, "Chacha Bechara hamesha hi aise maar khata hai. Unki niyati hi aisi hai. Kyuki bhatija hamesha bhaybheet rehta hai. (The uncle always gets defeated like this. His fate is such because the nephew is always scared).
Responding to Adityanath, Shivpal said during his turn that he was not tricked, noting that Pandey is "very senior".
Akhilesh's uncle took a swipe at the CM and said, "I was in touch with you for three years. You tricked me too," prompting a laughter from MLAs across party lines, including Adityanath himself.
Shivpal then took a swipe at BJP's lacking performance in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. "You tricked me, you lagged behind in this election and Samajwadi Party stormed ahead." He asserted with confidence that the 2027 state elections would be won by Samajwadi Party, telling Adityanath that his "Deputy CM will trick" him, NDTV cited him as saying.
The remarks in the state Assembly came in the backdrop of the alleged infighting in the Bharatiya Janata Party's UP unit. However, before the Assembly session began on Monday, both the Deputy Chief Ministers -- Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak -- stood in strength beside Adityanath as a show of an united front of the UP BJP.
Notably, Shivpal Yadav is the youngest brother of SP founder and former state CM, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav. For nearly three decades now, the leader has served as an MLA in the state.
Shivpal had previously served as a state minister and the Leader of the Opposition and now, he serves as the national General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party.
Shivpal had called it quits with the Samajwadi Party when Akhilesh was rising to political power. He founded a separate party, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party. However, he rejoined SP in 2022 after sorting out his differences with nephew Akhilesh while also merging his party with it.
