Yashpal Arya

Yashpal Arya
7th Leader of the Opposition
Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
Assumed office
10 April 2022
DeputyBhuwan Chandra Kapri
Chief MinisterPushkar Dhami
Preceded byPritam Singh
Member of Legislative Assembly, Uttarakhand
Assumed office
2012
Preceded byArvind Pandey
ConstituencyBajpur
In office
2002–2012
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
ConstituencyMukteshwar
Speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
In office
2002 - 2007
Preceded byPrakash Pant
Succeeded byHarbans Kapoor
Member of Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh
In office
1993–1996
In office
1989–1991
ConstituencyKhatima
Personal details
Born (1952-01-08) 8 January 1952
PartyIndian National Congress (until 2017, 2021–present)
Other political
affiliations
Bharatiya Janata Party (2017–2021)
ChildrenSanjeev Arya
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Yashpal Arya is a 7-time MLA from Uttar Pradesh (twice) and Uttarakhand (five times) combined. He is a former Minister of Transportation, Social Welfare, Minority and Students' Welfare in the Government of Uttarakhand under Bharatiya Janata Party's rule. He is currently the Leader of the opposition in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. Currently, he is an Indian National Congress leader and member of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. He is a former Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly under Indian National Congress' rule. He was elected from Mukteshwar constituency in the 2007 Uttarakhand state assembly elections.

He was the President of the Congress Party's Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (Uttarakhand PCC) from 2007 through 2014. He was elected from Bajpur Assembly constituency in 2012 and was being thought to be one of the frontrunners for the chief ministerial candidature until the Congress high command chose Vijay Bahuguna, son of former Uttar Pradesh CM late Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, for the post.

On 16 January 2017, Arya joined the Bharatiya Janata Party where he served as the Cabinet Minister of Transportation, Social Welfare, Minority and Students' Welfare, Government of Uttarakhand from 18 March 2017 to 11 October 2021 in the Trivendra Singh Rawat's, Tirath Singh Rawat's and Pushkar Singh Dhami's first cabinet.

On 11 October 2021, Arya along with his son Sanjiv Arya (MLA, Nainital) returned to Congress. In the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, he won the Bajpur seat again but this time as an INC candidate, after which he was appointed the Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.