UP polls: Akhilesh Yadav wants larger say in ticket distribution

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was divested of the post of Samajwadi Party’s state president, has made it known that he wants an upper hand in selecting the party’s candidates for the forthcoming polls.

He has conveyed this to his father and SP Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. While the CM’s uncle Shivpal Yadav has been reinstated as a minister and given charge once again all the portfolios he had but has also been additionally made the new president of SP. Akhilesh feels his position within the organisation should not be compromised. He wants a larger say in ticket distribution to accommodate his own followers.

Akhilesh Yadav supporters are talking about creating a post of working president for him, but that may not happen immediately. A proposal to create a committe to screen candidates before they are selected headed by Akhilesh Yadav is also being floated but Mulayam Singh Yadav is yet to make up his mind about it.

“I am ready to give back all posts and departments, but what about me? I must have the right to select candidates as elections would be a test of my government and image,” Akhilesh Yadav told a TV news program. A decision on Akhikesh Yadav’s role in the party is expected on Saturday.