SP leaders Akhilesh, Mulayam to attend Narendra Modi's swearing-in

Lucknow, May 26: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister

and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi, an official said.

Akhilesh Yadav, his wife and MP from Kannauj Dimple Yadav, nephews Akshay Pratap (MP from Firozabad) and Dharmendra Yadav (MP from Badaun), have left for Delhi to be part of the swearing-in ceremony.

Mulayam Singh flew into the national capital late on Sunday and has confirmed his presence at Modi's swearing-in. The SP has been routed by Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has shrunk to five seats from 22 in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

During the 2014 campaign, the BJP leaders and SP's first family traded serious charges against each other and the campaign turned vitriolic.

However, setting aside the past, a close aide of the chief minister told IANS that Akhilesh had decided to be at the swearing-in "purely as part of political courtesy" and "hoping that the centre-state relationship remain cordial".

BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state and its alliance partner Apna Dal - a regional outfit, won two other seats taking the tally of the BJP combine to an unprecedented 73 out of 80. A few senior BJP leaders elected as MPs are likely to get a place in the Modi cabinet.

There is no word about Mayawati attending the ceremony yet

BJP has made it clear that it is taking the 2017 state assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh seriously. A few senior leaders, including Modi confidante Amit Shah, have spoken of "a serious likelihood of the Akhilesh Yadav government falling much before."

There is no word on whether BSP chief Mayawati, whose party won none of the seats it contested, will attend the event.

Several BJP leaders, including city mayors and legislators, late on Sunday left for the national capital to be at Modi's swearing-in. Party leaders said that invites for the event at the sprawling Rashtrapati Bhawan had been specially sent to all legislators of UP, and BJP city mayors.

Other than this, the state spokesmen and state unit president Laxmikant Bajpayi along with former Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon have also been invited.

Some people from Varanasi, including classical singer Pt Channu Lal Mishra, who was one of the proposers of Modi when he filed his nomination from Varanasi, has also been invited for the glittering ceremony.

IANS