Akhilesh Yadav

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav did not rule out the possibility of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav becoming prime minister after 2019 elections.

During a rapid-fire question session of an interview organised by a private news channel on Tuesday, Akhilesh was asked if Mulayam could become the Prime Minister in 2019. Required to answer in yes or no, Akhilesh replied in the affirmative.

This is the first time that the SP chief had commented on the possibility of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav being a prime ministerial candidate. Mulayam Singh has for long been nurturing the dream to become the PM.

Earlier, during another television interview in 2015, Akhilesh had proposed the idea of Mulayam becoming the PM with Rahul Gandhi as his deputy.

Akhilesh, who had till now been saying that the PM candidate will be from UP and had cited that even PM Narendra Modi had won from Varanasi, on Tuesday added that after 2019, the PM can be from any part of India. In political circles, this change in statement was seen as an attempt to send across a message that he was not against Bengal CM being projected as PM candidate.

Akhilesh did not rule out the possibility of including Congress in alliance ahead of 2019 polls while saying that he was clear about joining hands with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

“UP sends maximum number of MPs and I think there will be enough for everyone,” he said when pointedly queried on including Congress in the alliance.

