Akhilesh will become CM again, no rift in SP: Mulayam

Etawah (UP), Feb 19: Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday said there was no rift in the party and his son Akhilesh Yadav will become Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister again. "There is no rift in SP. Akhilesh will become chief minister as a lot of development work was done in his regime," Yadav told reporters after casting his vote here.

Asked why he was not actively campaigning for his party candidates, he said, "I am campaigning. Other phases are left, I will campaign." Assembly elections in UP are scheduled in seven phases, two of which have been completed while the third is underway today. The remaining phases will be held on 23 and 27 February and March 4 and 8.

The results will be out on March 11. When asked about his brother Shivpal Yadav, who is contesting from Jaswant Nagar in SP stronghold Etawah, Yadav said, "He will win by a big margin". Asked about "adopted son" remark of Prime Minister, the SP patriarch said, "He can say whatever he wants. The fact remains that UP has adopted the Samajwadi Party."

Priyanka Gandhi too joined her brother and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in attacking Modi over his "adopted son" remark, saying in Rae Bareli on Friday that UP does not need an outsider when it has its own youth to take it forward. "Modiji, does the state need to adopt anyone from outside? Is there no youth here?...You have two such youth in Rahulji and Akhileshji before you who have UP in their hearts and mind," Priyanka had said.

Even today, Modi said in Fatehpur that, "UP is like my 'mai-baap' (parent). I am not a son who will ditch his 'mai-baap'. I will always take care of Uttar Pradesh." Amid exchange of barbs on the adopted son remark, BSP supremo Mayawati has said in her own style that people of UP have decided to ensure the victory of their "own daughter" rather than the "adopted son" in the ongoing polls.

PTI