Will be happy if Akhilesh Yadav becomes PM

Faizabad (UP): If you walk into the Samajwadi Party's district office in this historic town near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, it is the portrait of young Akhilesh Yadav that stares at you.

His father Mulayam Singh Yadav founded the party in 1992 and carefully nurtured it to a level where it is today.

Of course, his portrait also has a place in the office, but you can't see it if the room door is open, as it is hung in a corner.

In a carefully orchestrated move following a family feud, 45-year-old Akhilesh Yadav took over party reins in 2017, pushing his father, popular as Netaji among his followers, to a corner.

But Akhilesh-led SP is facing a major challenge now as it has lost 2017 UP Assembly elections in which BJP won with a huge majority.

The party also lost ground to BJP 2014 Lok Sabha elections, winning just 5 seats.

Cornered by BJP, SP joined hands with its long-time rival BSP led by Mayawati to checkmate the saffron party which won 71 MP seats in 2014.

But the mute question is whether Akhilesh Yadav will be in prime ministerial race if SP-BSP alliance wins lion share of seats in UP in this General Elections which conclude on Sunday.

Tej Narayan Pandey, a senior SP leader and a close confidante of Akhilesh Yadav, has an answer for it.

"We will be very happy if Akhilesh Yadav becomes prime minister of the country.

Farmers, youth and the poor will benefit if our leader becomes PM," Pandey, a member of Akhilesh's Team Eleven, told The Hans India here. Also known as Pawan Pandey, he worked as a minister in Akhilesh's cabinet.

Pandey however added that gathbandhan (SP-BSP-RLD alliance) would decide who should become leader of the country. "Our party leader already declared that he would like to become PM if required. We will support whatever decision our leader takes," he said.

On the winning chances of the alliance in UP, he said: "There is a wave in favour of the alliance.

Akhilesh Yadav, as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh between 2012 and 2017, took up large number of projects for the development of UP.

People are happy with those works and ready to vote for the alliance. They want to defeat BJP and elect the alliance candidates," Pandey claimed.

Replying to a query on why SP joined hands with BSP when it did such good works, he said the parties came together for the sake of people.

"This alliance has been formed to save India and our Constitution from the clutches of communal forces," he maintained.

Pandey, who was MLA from Ayodhya Assembly constituency between 2012-17, claimed that the SP-BSP-RLD alliance would win more than 70 out of 80 MP seats in UP.

"BJP has lost its ground because its leaders duped people with false promises. Farmers are worried, youth are unhappy and so are women," he reasoned.

Asked about long-time rivalry between SP and BSP cadre which might mar the chances of the alliance candidates, he said that workers of two parties joined hands at the village level also to defeat BJP.

"There are no differences among the local leaders of both parties. They are working very hard for the alliance," he said.