Lucknow, Oct 18 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday justified supporting rebel SP candidate NItin Agarwal for the post of deputy speaker and said the opposition party was unable to bring forward a young face in the past four-and-half years.

"We were waiting for the past four-and-half years that the principal opposition party will put forward a young face for the post of deputy speaker. But, in the absence of any positive approach, and when the term of the House is going to end in the next six months, it would be good, if we give this responsibility to any youth. The new deputy speaker is young as well as experienced,” the CM told the House after Agarwal's election to the post.

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BJP-backed SP rebel Agarwal was on Monday elected Deputy Speaker in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, defeating his party's official candidate Narendra Verma by 244 votes.

Agarwal got 304 votes compared to Verma's 60 in the polling held through ballot papers at a special one-day assembly session here.

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Adityanath further said it would have been better if the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) had given this proposal earlier itself.

"I know that he will say that there has been tampering in the polls. During the assembly and Lok Sabha polls (when public gives its verdict), they blame the EVMs. I think that the picture of the 2022 polls has emerged," he said, hitting out at the Samajwadi Party (SP).

The CM asserted that Agarwal is a three-time MLA and "technically a member of the SP".

Sharpening his attack on the SP, he said, "During the COVID-19 pandemic, when we held a meeting of leaders of various parties, the SP had boycotted the meeting. A special session was convened on Sustainable Development Goals, but SP boycotted it because it (the session) was related to poverty alleviation, employment for youth, better health, quality education and doubling income of the farmers.

“But, SP has nothing to do with these, and it opposed. We have always set the tradition for a dialogue (samvaad), but the SP has always worked to obstruct it,” Adityanath said.

He also hit out at the party over its internal bickering.

"The face of the SP has come before everyone. It cannot accept its own members. There is internal bickering. For some people, family itself is the party, while for us the entire state is family…,” he said.

Referring to Narendra Singh Verma, SP's candidate for the post of deputy speaker, the chief minister said, "Our sympathy ('sahaanbhuti') and feelings ('samvednaa') are with Narendra Singh Verma. Had the SP put his name four years ago, then the 'dhokhaa' (deceive), which Narendra Singh Verma has faced, could possibly have been avoided."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)