lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Apr 23, 2019 10:29 IST

Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday the regional parties would get more seats than the Congress and the BJP in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls and the next prime minister would be from the regional parties.

He also said that the UP alliance would still field a strong candidate even if the Congress fielded Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Varanasi. Later in evening, the SP fielded former Union minister and Varanasi MP late Babu Shyamlal Yadav's daughter-in-law Shalini Yadav from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shalini joined the SP on Monday itself.

"The new prime minister could also be from outside UP," he said. So far Akhilesh had been saying that the next prime minister will be from UP.

Akhilesh Yadav said this at a press conference after being asked if the alliance would support Rahul Gandhi for prime ministership.

Akhilesh once again said he was not in the race for the prime ministership. "No, I do not want to become the PM. I will be happy if the new prime minister is from UP, though he could also be from some other state."

The SP is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), keeping the Congress out of the "gathbandhan".

The gathbandhan has not fielded any candidate on Rae Bareli and Amethi seats of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The Congress likewise decided to not field any candidate against seven alliance candidates, including Mulayam Singh Yadav in Mainpuri, Akhiesh Yadav in Azamgarh, Dimple Yadav in Kannauj, and also the SP ally Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary.