While addressing a public meeting during the Lok Sabha election campaign, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav had referred to Awadhesh Prasad as former MLA. Prasad who was standing next to Yadav, had immediately whispered to Yadav's ear that he was actually a sitting MLA from Milkipur. Yadav had then declared that he had called Prasad, the party's candidate from the Faizabad parliamentary constituency, an ex-MLA because he was soon going to become an MP.
Yadav proved to be prescient as Prasad won from Faizabad. The nine-time MLA is now a first-term Lok Sabha MP, and finds himself at the centre of attention in the ongoing session of Parliament. There appears to be a widespread consensus in the INDIA bloc that there is a huge political merit in projecting the 78-year-old Prasad as its nominee for the post of Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Prasad has already been held up by the opposition as a mascot for what it perceives as the failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party to benefit from the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Prasad, a Dalit leader, has won from Faizabad, which is not a reserved constituency. And Ayodhya is a part of the Faizabad constituency.
Prasad, who has emerged as a hero for the opposition after his victory in Faizabad, has been seated in the front row of the opposition benches in the ongoing session. And it is felt that Yadav has deliberately made Prasad sit next to him right at the front to rile the BJP.
There is now a move in the INDIA bloc to project Prasad as the opposition's nominee for the post of Deputy Speaker especially because of the symbolic value of his victory. He is a Dalit leader, and the assessment in the opposition camp is that proposing his name would be in keeping with the support that the community has given to the INDIA bloc in the election. Also, it is felt that for the ruling side to oppose his name would come at the cost of being viewed as anti-Dalit. Prasad comes from the Pasi community. Pasis are the most prominent of the non-Jatav Dalits in Uttar Pradesh.
It is also felt that going forward, it would be beneficial for the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance in UP as it would make an effort to consolidate the support it has got from the Dalits in the state in view of the Assembly elections.
