Expelled aides of Akhilesh Yadav now in his war room

LUCKNOW: Young Samajwadi Party officials considered close to Akhilesh Yadav but expelled by his uncle and Uttar Pradesh party boss Shivpal Yadav got a space of their own when the chief minister inaugurated the Janeshwar Mishra Trust office in Bandariya Bagh, close to the party's headquarters, on Vikramaditya Marg on Monday .

Party sources said the trust office will be the "epicentre" of Akhilesh's election campaign for his team of youths.

"Equipped with state-of the-art gadgetry , the trust office has every facility to function as a command centre for Akhilesh's kranti rath," a member of the team said.

Sources said Akhilesh may soon announce the dates of his rath yatra, which was earlier scheduled to begin from October 3 but was cancelled following the recent rift within the Yadav clan last month.

Although senior ministers, including Rajendra Chaudhary, Arvind Singh Gope, Shivakant Ojha, Abhishek Misra, a host of MLAs and MLCs, attended the function, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal could not make it to the event as they were out of station.

While Akhilesh is the president of the trust, senior minister Rajendra Chaudhary is the vice-president.Most expelled youths, including Sunil Singh Yadav, Naimul Hasan, Rajpal Kashyap, are its members. The trust, which was formed in late 2013, was until now being run from the party office campus.