Talk of Shivpal being made dy speaker doing the rounds
LUCKNOW : Amid reports of growing bonhomie between PSP-L president Shivpal Yadav and BJP, speculation was rife on Monday that Shivpal might be made UP assembly deputy speaker.
If this happens, it would be a somewhat replication of the then SP MLA Nitin Agarwal getting elected as deputy speaker in October last year.
Agarwal is now minister of state (independent charge) of excise and prohibition after he won his Hardoi seat as BJP candidate. In his last term, Agarwal was SP MLA but had joined the BJP.
The buzz regarding Shivpal and BJP bonhomie has been growing steadily over the last two weeks since he met chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
There is also talk of Shivpal’s relations getting strained with his nephew SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
On Monday, Shivpal tweeted and Koo-ed a verse of Ramcharitmanas, and commented: “The character of Lord Ram is the best lesson regarding ‘family, character-building, and nation building.” The ‘Chaitra Navratra’, along with faith, is the time to connect with the ideals of Lord Ram.” This fueled further speculation on his talked about closeness to the saffron party.
“Such speculation is doing the rounds. The sky and politics are limitless. The door of possibilities is never closed in politics,”
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) spokesperson Deepak Mishra said.
Shivpal floated his own party in 2019 after a rift with Akhilesh. But ahead of the recently-concluded assembly polls, the two were back together and Shivpal won from Jaswantnagar on an SP ticket.
Relations appeared to have got strained between the two again after the election results, with BJP returning to power for a second consecutive term.
Mishra recalled Shivpal experience as a legislator. “If the MLAs give him this responsibility, it will increase the dignity of the assembly,” he said. Asked why Shivpal was eyeing the deputy speaker’s post, he said, “Which post is left now for him? He cannot become the speaker. Neither can he become leader of the house or opposition.”
Mishra said there has been no official word on the deputy speaker’s post. “But if such a proposal comes, Shivpal will be the first choice of the ruling party and opposition,” he added.
When asked about the possibility about Shivpal, UP’s minister of state for parliamentary affairs Jaswant Singh Saini said, “I have no information in this regard.”
Earlier, there was talk that Shivpal would be sent to the Rajya Sabha by BJP and his son Aditya Yadav would contest from Jaswantnagar assembly seat vacated by him.
Shivpal recently met the chief minister and began following Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yogi and former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma on twitter. The rift between Shivpal and Akhilesh has been widening after Shivpal was not invited to a meeting of newly-elected SP MLAs on March 26. Shivpal then skipped a meeting of the opposition alliance chaired by Akhilesh.
Another member of the Yadav family -- Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joined the BJP before the assembly elections. Meanwhile, Akhilesh met his father, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, in New Delhi on Saturday. But it is not known what transpired between them.