Akhilesh as UP CM: Split party will decide later

Among those against Akhilesh is Mulayam’s brother Shivpal. SP national general secretary Azam Khan,who is known to be in favour of Mulayam as CM,skipped the parliamentary board meeting. SP leaders will meet after Holi now to take a call. Mulayam will use the two days to talk to senior leaders individually.

Emerging from the party meeting and surrounded by slogan-shouting workers rooting for him to be chief minister,Akhilesh himself declared: “Netaji (Mulayam) will be CM. We have summoned a meeting of MLAs on March 10.”

An angry youth leader said: “We respect our senior leaders,but they seem to be more worried about their own careers than about what the people want.”

No SP leader was willing to come on record on backing Akhilesh,barring general secretary Naresh Agarwal. “The SP has won such a clear mandate for the first time. Akhilesh’s contribution is immense. Youths identify with him and people also want to see Akhilesh as CM,” Agarwal said.

According to sources,Ramgopal Yadav sought the opinion of party leaders on making Akhilesh CM at the party meeting,which was chaired by Mulayam. Agarwal,who spoke first,supported the idea. However,according to sources,the older leaders seemed to be in visible discomfort,with SP vice-president Brijbhushan Tiwari claiming this could lead to resentment among senior legislators.

As some questioned Akhilesh’s acceptability among MLAs,Ramgopal Yadav reportedly said people wanted him as CM.