After registering a stupendous victory in the just-concluded general election, the principal opposition Samajwadi Party is set to get a new leader of the opposition (LoP) in both the houses of the state legislature.

The party is in a discussion mode to select the LoP representing the Caste factor.

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The UP assembly will get the new leader of the opposition after the present LoP, Akhilesh Yadav, who is also the SP party got elected from Kannauj Lok Sabha seat.

SP will get the post of LoP in the Legislative council after a brief absence when its membership rose to 10 in the 100 member House recently.

A senior SP leader said here on Monday that the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and Legislative Council will solve the caste equations so that the message goes to the public that PDA (Backwards, Dalits and Muslims) is its top priority.

Till now, Akhilesh Yadav was holding the post of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, but now he will focus more on national politics.

The name of Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav is among the front runners for the post of LoP in the state assembly while Inderjit Saroj, Ram Achal Rajbhar and Kamal Akhtar are also in the race.

According to sources, while choosing the Leader of Opposition, Akhilesh Yadav will keep in mind who will prove to be more capable of aggressively cornering the BJP government in the House.

Encouraged by the results of Lok Sabha elections, SP has decided to follow the strategy of aggressively attacking the policies of BJP. Only the leader who can respond true to this strategy will become the leader of the Samajwadi Party in the Assembly.

SP leader in the Legislative Council, Lal Bihari Yadav is said to be ahead in the race for LoP in the upper house.

However, other names being considered include Rajendra Chaudhary, Jasmin Ansari and Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali.

If Akhilesh Yadav wants to adopt the party’s old theory of Yadav- Muslim combination, then a Yadav could get LoP post in Assembly and a Muslim in the Upper House.