After fight in poll arena, bonhomie in Assembly: Yogi, Akhilesh shake hands, smile (VIDEO)

New Delhi: After months of verbal duel and political mudslinging in the run up to Assembly elections, it was a rare moment of bonhomie between two arch rivals of Uttar Pradesh.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav shared a light moment today and exchanged pleasantries while they met in the Assembly.

In the video, both Yogi & Akhilesh could been smiling and greeting each other and also shaking hands. The Chief Minister is seen patting SP chief on the shoulder before moving on to his seat.

Akhilesh was the key challenger to Yogi in elections. The meeting between two leaders comes weeks after they traded barbs during a high-voltage campaign for staking claim to power in the biggest state.

#WATCH Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath meets Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav in the Legislative Assembly during oath-taking of newly-elected legislators #Lucknow pic.twitter.com/7r6fX7ErjX

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) March 28, 2022

Interestingly, both are first time legislators in the 403 member Assembly. Both never contested Assembly elections before and were serving MPs from Gorakhpur & Azamgarh seats respectively. Yogi Adityanath contested Assembly elections from Gorakhpur seat while Akhilesh fought from Karhal. SP chief won with a decisive mandate and subsequently gave up his Lok Sabha constituency for Karhal Assembly seat.

He is likely to be elected the Leader of Opposition. All 403 members of the Legislative Assembly took oath of office as legislators today.
During the campaign, Yogi & Akhilesh engaged in harsh exchange of words and repeatedly kept taking jibes at each other.

Both engaged in no-holds barred exchange of swipes and made headlines with sharp digs & rejoinders. Yadav referred to Yogi as Baba Bulldozer, a swipe at CM’s high-handedness in governance while Adityanath called him ‘babua’ – term which means the person will remain juvenile & childish.