lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Jan 25, 2019 12:33 IST

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who has often ducked questions on the Opposition’s prime minister face, featured on posters that sprung up in Lucknow on Friday pitching him as the next PM.

Posters with slogans — “We trust Akhilesh to lead the state and the nation, the country needs a new PM” — could be seen at various places in Lucknow, reports ANI.

The posters also have a small image of former Samajwadi party chief and Mulayam Singh Yadav on the top corner.

With efforts for Opposition unity gaining pace ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh has often been asked who would he support for PM but he has so far refused to give a direct reply.

During his press conference to announce his party’s alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Akhilesh neatly evaded the ‘PM question’.

“You know my choice. Uttar Pradesh has given prime ministers in the past and trend will be repeated again,” he said with the BSP chief sitting next to him.

Recently, when asked during a trip to Kolkata who his choice for PM would be — ally and BSP chief Mayawati or Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee — Akhilesh refused to give a direct reply and said efforts should be made to elect a new prime minister and some issues can be discussed after the polls.

To DMK chief MK Stalin’s pitch that Congress president Rahul Gandhi should be the opposition’s presumptive prime minister in the 2019 elections Akhilesh Yadav, who had partnered with the Congress in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, said: “It is not necessary it (Stalin’s proposal) is the alliance opinion.”