Akhilesh Yadav, the son of Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, will become the youngest ever chief minister of Uttar Pradesh after taking the oath of office on March 15.
He was unanimously elected the leader of SP legislature party in a meeting this afternoon. While his name was proposed by a senior party leader and one of the SP founder members Azam Khan, Akhilesh's name was seconded by his uncle Shivpal.
Addressing the media later, CM designate Akhilesh thanked the electorate for the thumping victory of the party in the UP poll by rising above religion and caste lines.
"All promises made out in the SP manifesto will be fulfilled and the new government will work for the welfare of farmers, minorities, youth and all sections of society," he added in the packed party office.
Referring to the incidents of violence across UP, he said it was the handiwork of certain officials, who continued to hold posts, but once the SP government took charge, they would be taken to task.
Later, Akhilesh called upon Governor B L Joshi to stake the claim for forming the next government. He would be the 33rd chief minister of UP. Mayawati had been the youngest CM, when she took oath in 1995 at the age of 39 and formed a BSP-SP coalition.
Akhilesh, who was born on October 23, 1973 and had studied at Military School, Dholpur and later completed higher education in Australia, has been credited for the stupendous success of SP, which won 224 seats in the 403 member house, followed by BSP (80).
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He toured across UP in his 'Kranti Rath' and galvanised the youth in favour of the party. The party manifesto also held out promises of giving laptops/tablets to students passing X/XII, unemployment allowance, farmers' loan waiver, etc.
During campaigning, Akhilesh and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi were under the spotlight for being the youth leaders, but the former romped home victorious, while Congress could garner only 28 seats, merely six more than the 2007 UP poll.
Meanwhile, Mayawati-led BSP elected senior party leader Swami Prasad Maurya as its legislature party leader, which means he would be the leader of opposition also in the UP assembly.