I have no prime ministerial ambitions: Akhilesh Yadav

Says is happy with his task in UP, is sure Congress-SP will win over 300 of 403 seats in the state

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Saturday that he had no prime ministerial ambitions and was content with his job in the state.

"I am content with my task in Uttar Pradesh and harbour no ambitions of becoming the Prime Minister of the country," he said at an event organised by a news channel here.

"People who stay away from Delhi are happier," Yadav said in a lighter vein.

The chief minister said the Congress-SP alliance will win an overwhelming majority in the assembly polls and get more than 300 seats in the 403-member House.

"If 50 per cent of people who have benefited from schemes of my government vote for us, we will get 300 seats," he said.
 

Listing some of the schemes, he said: "55 lakh (5.5 million) women are getting Samajwadi Pension, 18 lakh laptops were distributed, MBBS seats doubled since Independence, helpline services 108, 100, 109, Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojna...There are many more schemes that directly touch the poor."

To a question on his overpowering clout over his father and former SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh sought to allay all controversy surrounding it, saying the father-son relation existed in all its grace and nothing could change it.

"Samajwadi Party still belongs to him. The 'cycle' belongs to him. The relationship is intact, father-son relationship can never change. It was necessary to distance ourselves from people who ultimately wanted to harm the Samajwadi Party," he said referring to the bitter infighting in the Yadav clan.

"This is not an act of rebellion... Netaji (Mulayam) is above all of us in the party. The responsibility to take Samajwadi Party forward if now with the next generation," he said.

Asked if Mulayam will campaign for the alliance, he said, "Our only aim is to retain power in the state. His (Netaji) blessings are with us. Netaji will be the most happy person if SP wins. I am sure, the SP's thumping victory will only increase Netaji's respect."

"His (Netaji) photographs are in our campaign. Netaji is in our each slogan. Netaji told me that he will campaign for the alliance," he said.