LUCKNOW: Even as SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav continued to drop broad hits of warming up to the BJP, speculation mills on Monday started whirling about the possibility of the saffron party propping him as deputy speaker in the Vidhan Sabha.
The development came hours after Shivpal tweeted a photograph of Lord Ram, his three brothers, Sita and Hanuman while tagging a couplet: “Bhagavaan Ram ka charit parivaar, sanskar aur rashtra nirman ki sarvottam paathashala hai (The character of Lord Ram is the best school for building ‘family, culture and nation’).”
While there was no official word from the BJP, sources said the party may field Shivpal as the deputy leader in the assembly, like it did in case of rebel SP lawmaker Nitin Agarwal. “Things are expected to be worked out soon by the party leadership,” said a senior BJP leader.
As a tradition, the deputy speaker is chosen from the opposition. If this happens then Shivpal will sit next to the Leader of the opposition – that is his nephew Akhilesh Yadav. The move could well needle the SP chief who is learnt to have been putting up hard political terms before his uncle since the state polls.
Reports of Shivpal cozying up to the BJP started doing the rounds after he met CM Yogi Adityanath last week. This was immediately after Shivpal was left distraught when Akhilesh did not invite him to the SP legislative party meeting.
