Who Is Mata Prasad Pandey? 7-Time MLA And Samajwadi Party’s LoP Pick For UP Assembly

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Mata Prasad Pandey, 82, will replace Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, who resigned as MLA from Karhal seat in Mainpuri district after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj.

Mata Prasad Pandey was named as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. (File)

Seven-time MLA Mata Prasad Pandey has been picked by the Samajwadi Party (SP) as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Pandey, 82, will replace SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav, who resigned as MLA from Karhal seat in Mainpuri district after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj parliamentary constituency.

On Sunday, Akhilesh Yadav appointed Mata Prasad Pandey, SP MLA from Itwa in Siddharth Nagar district, the leader of opposition in the assembly, a party leader said, adding that the decision was taken at a meeting held at the party headquarters in Lucknow

Samajwadi Party MLAs had authorised Akhilesh Yadav to choose the LoP, he said.

The party also appointed Kamaal Akhtar as the chief whip and Rakesh Kumar alias R K Verma as the deputy whip in the assembly, according to a party release.

Who is Mata Prasad Pandey?

Mata Prasad Pandey, is a veteran Brahmin leader, who has held the post of Uttar Pradesh Assembly speaker twice — 2004-2007 and 2012-2017.

82-year-old Pandey was first elected to the state Assembly in 1980, and again in 1985 and 1989. Pandey served as state health minister between 1990 and 1991 in the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government, and was again appointed the labour and employment minister in the SP founder’s dispensation between 2002 and 2004.

In a post on X, Akhilesh Yadav said Pandey’s rich experience will benefit all SP MLAs, assembly speaker, chief minister and all his ministers and MLAs.

“Hearty congratulations and best wishes to senior Samajwadi (Party) leader Shri Mata Prasad Pandey ji on being elected as the leader of opposition in the UP Legislative Assembly!” Yadav said in a post on X in Hindi.

(With inputs from agencies)

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