Akhilesh Yadav,
the Samajwadi Party chief, will lead the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh
Legislative Assembly. Yadav, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017,
was a member of Parliament until he won the elections from Karhal in the
recently-concluded polls. He is considered a key player for building a robust
Opposition unity going into the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

While the BJP swept
to power in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls with 255 seats out of 403,
Akhilesh-led Samajwadi Party significantly increased its vote share from the 2017
polls. The Samajwadi Party won 111 seats having increased its vote share by
around 10%.

Akhilesh’s
elevation to the Leader of Opposition post comes only a day after Yogi
Adityanath took oath as the chief minister of India’s biggest state. In winning
the elections, Yogi achieved a rare feat. No incumbent government has returned
to power in Uttar Pradesh since the 1980s.

As such,
Adityanath’s swearing-in ceremony was grandiose with chief ministers of all
BJP-ruled states in attendance.

The newly-elected
Uttar Pradesh government has also given out ministerial berths. Fifty-two MLAs
were sworn-in as ministers on Friday. Of these, 18 have received cabinet
berths, 14 are Members of State and 20 are junior ministers.

The ministry
distributions follow the caste dynamics of the politically powerful sections of
the BJP’s voters. The BJP in Uttar Pradesh draws a large amount of support from
Brahmin and Thakur voters as well as non-Yadav Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

In the Uttar
Pradesh Council of Ministers, there are 21 MLAs from the so-called upper
castes, including the chief minister, 20 MLAs from among OBCs, nine Dalit
leaders, and one minister each from the Muslim, Sikh and Punjabi communities.
Yadavs, who form the core voter base of the Samajwadi Party usually, did
support the BJP in some quarters. To satiate them, some ministerial berths have
landed with the Yadavs.

The highlight of
the ministry distribution exercise was the retention of Keshav Prasad Maurya,
who lost the Assembly elections, as a deputy CM.