Barring a last minute hitch,Akhilesh Yadav will be the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. A meeting of Samajwadi Party MLAs scheduled for 11 am tomorrow will elect Akhilesh their leader,following which he will formally stake claim to form the government. At 39,Akhilesh,currently the MP from Kannauj,will be UP's youngest chief minister ever. The family of Mulayam Singh Yadav has arrived at a consensus that the party chief will focus on national politics while Akhilesh runs UP. There has been uncertainty over who among father and son would be CM ever since the SP roared to victory with 224 seats in the 403-member UP house on March 6. Sources said two of the SP's seniormost leaders - Shivpal Singh Yadav,Mulayam Singh's brother and MLA from Jaswantnagar,and Azam Khan,MLA from Rampur - will propose Akhilesh's name at tomorrow's meeting. It will be supported by Atrauliya MLA Dr Sangram Yadav,son of senior leader Balram Yadav,and seconded by Hardoi MLA Nitin Agarwal. The proposal will be accepted unanimously. It has been so planned that Akhilesh's name comes from within the MLAs,with Mulayam not having to announce his son's name as their leader. Shivpal and Azam have always been the most comfortable with the idea of Mulayam as CM,while Rajya Sabha member and party national general secretary Prof Ramgopal Yadav has favoured Akhilesh. Amid the uncertainty,everyone including Akhilesh has said that Mulayam would be CM. The SP parliamentary board failed to resolve the matter in its meeting on Wednesday. On Friday,however,Akhilesh did not,for the first time,name Mulayam as the next CM. Asked the usual question,he replied: "Don't be anxious,the new CM will be elected on Saturday," adding,"You have good sources,you can very well find out who the next CM will be." Told that he seemed to have suddenly become busy and inaccessible like a CM,Akhilesh replied: "Everything will be clear in the meeting of the MLAs on Saturday. They will elect their leader. There is one post and only one person will get it." As he read out a statement on recent incidents of violence,allegedly by SP workers,Akhilesh was reminded that such statements were usually read out by CMs. He replied: "I am also speaking extempore besides reading out the statement,so please wait and tap your sources for information." On Thursday,Akhilesh skipped the family's Holi celebrations at his native Saifai. Every other member of the clan,including Mulayam,Shivpal and Ramgopal,was there. Mulayam and Shivpal left Lucknow for Saifai together in a helicopter. At Saifai,Ramgopal told the family in clear terms that Akhilesh would be CM,and in case anyone had other plans,they should be changed now. The time was ripe for handing over the baton to the next generation,Ramgopal said,and reports about differences within the family must stop. The message was clear: Shivpal should be prepared to accept Akhilesh as CM.
