Yogi Adityanath Greets Rival SP Leader Akhilesh in Assembly, Both Shake Hands

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav exchange greetings after taking oath as Members of the Legislative Assembly

(Photo: PTI)

Days after being sworn-in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second consecutive time, Yogi Adityanath greeted rival Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav at the state Legislative Assembly in Lucknow on Monday, 28 March.

Displaying a rare moment of political amiability, the newly-elected CM is seen shaking hands with Akhilesh and patting him on the shoulder on the floor of the House.

Both the leaders took oath as legislators in the Assembly on Monday and Akhilesh Yadav, BJP’s prime challenger in the recently-concluded polls, was named the Leader of Opposition.

Before the ceremony, Yogi was quoted by ANI as saying, "The swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected members for the 18th Assembly session will start today (Monday) onwards. I congratulate them and extend my good wishes."

BJP Sweeps UP Elections

The run-up to the Assembly elections witnessed a war of words between the two leaders. Yadav had titled Yogi as ‘Baba Bulldozer’ for his government's anti-eviction drives while Yogi called Yadav a ‘babua’ (juvenile and childish).

In the UP Assembly elections, results for which were declared on 10 March, the BJP retained power by winning 273 seats along with its allies, making Yogi the first chief minister in 37 years to retain his seat.

Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party finished a distant second with 111 seats in the 403-member Assembly.

The bipolar election between the BJP and the SP had completely marginalised other parties such as the BSP and the Congress in UP.