Why was Mata Prasad dominant over Shivpal, Indrajit and Ram Achal?
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has put an end to the speculations about the leader of the opposition in Uttar Pradesh since 45 days. In his letter to UP Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana, Akhilesh recommended the name of Etawah MLA Mata Prasad Pandey for the Leader of Opposition. There were big contenders for the post like Shivpal Yadav, Indrajit Saroj and Ram Achal Rajbhar, but in the end Mata Prasad Pandey won.
After Mata Prasad became the leader of opposition, the question is being discussed in UP political circles that how and why did 81-year-old Pandey defeat Shivpal, Saroj and Rajbhar in the race for this post?
Mata Prasad Pandey has been MLA for 7 times.
Mata Prasad, who became a politician under the guidance of Mulayam Singh, has been an MLA for seven times. When Akhilesh Yadav became the Chief Minister in 2012, Mulayam handed over the Speaker’s chair to Mata Prasad in that government. Mata Prasad lost the election in 2017, but in 2022, she returned to the House by winning from the Itwa seat in Siddharthnagar.
There was talk that Mata Prasad would become the Leader of the Opposition in 2022 itself, but at that time Akhilesh himself was sitting on this chair. However, the next meeting was held by the opposition in the assembly. He was seen sitting with Shivpal in the house.
Big question – How did Rajbhar beat Saroj-Shivpal?
Three names were most discussed in the SP for the Leader of the Opposition. The first name was Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal. The second name was that of Indrajit Saroj and the third name was that of Ram Achal Rajbhar, but Mata Prasad defeated all of them and became the leader of the opposition. 3 Big Reasons for Mata Prasad to become Leader of Opposition-
1. Mata Prasad is the core cadre leader of SP.
Apart from Shivpal, the two leaders whose names were discussed (Inderjit Saroj and Ram Achal Rajbhar) are from the Bahujan Samaj Party. It has been only 2 years since Rajbhar joined the SP. Indrajit is a little old. Compared to these two, Mata Prasad is the core cadre leader of the SP.
Another reason behind not posting these two is the performance of the organization. According to SP sources, Rajbhar and Indrajit are people of the organisation. Akhilesh wants to keep both of them busy in the work of the organization.
Indrajit is currently the general secretary and in-charge of Maharashtra, where assembly elections are proposed later this year. Rajbhar’s responsibility is to improve the number of active members of the SP.
2. Procedural experience, also good rapport with Shivpal
Shivpal Yadav was also a strong contender for Leader of Opposition. He had held this post during Mayawati’s tenure as well. However, it was not possible to make Shivpal the leader of the opposition in the current political climate. There are two major reasons for this-
, The SP has appointed Lal Bihari from the Yadav community as the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council. Yadav is also the leader of the party in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
, Shivpal is Akhilesh’s uncle and Shivpal’s son Aditya is also MP from Badaun. In such a situation the SP will only be accused of promoting the family.
On the other hand, Mata Prasad Pandey’s tuning with Shivpal is also superb. He also has experience in legislative proceedings. He himself has been the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. In such a situation, the SP will benefit from his experience of cornering the government inside the House.
3. A Brahmin face, if it fits in a PDA it will be icing on the cake.
Mata Prasad Pandey hails from the Brahmin community. Brahmins are politically dominant in Purvanchal, especially in Gorakhpur and Basti divisions. Many big Brahmin leaders like Harishankar Tiwari, Shiv Pratap Shukla have emerged from this district. About 17-18 percent of the colony alone is Brahmins. Brahmins in Gorakhpur, Bansgaon, Deoria and Dumriaganj also played a major role in their victories and defeats.
There are 39 assembly seats in seven districts of Basti and Gorakhpur division (Sant Kabirnagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Deoria). This time also SP has won only one seat (basti) of these districts in the Lok Sabha elections.
SP wants to worship Brahmins with the help of Mata’s prasad. Akhilesh’s attempt is to unite the Brahmins in these areas with the PDA. This is the reason why 81-year-old Mata Prasad has been entrusted with the responsibility of Leader of Opposition. If this experiment is successful, it will be icing on the cake for SP in 2027.
