MSY FOR, AKHILESH AGAINST KOVIND

Taking a contrary stand to that of his father and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday batted for UP governor Ram Naik for the president’s post.

Mulayam, at a dinner with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday night, had called the BJPled NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind a ‘good choice’.

“UP governor Ram Naik deserved the post (presidentship),” Akhilesh said in Sitapur, and added that SP will discuss the presidential candidate with associated parties and Congress at a meeting in Delhi on June 22.

He did not attend the dinner hosted by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath in honour of Modi at the CM’s official residence in Lucknow.

In a lighter vein, Akhilesh added: “Bihar governor (Kovind) is worth it (presidentship), but the post should rightfully have gone to Naik. He (Naik) had worked very hard to help BJP bring its government in UP. The BJP government in UP is the outcome of his hard work.”

However, on serious note, Akhilesh said: “The President’s post should be above caste and religion.”

Akhilesh was in Sitapur to console a family whose three members were murdered on June 6.

Though Mulayam is no longer the SP president and does not hold any constitutional powers in the party as an outcome of the Yadav family feud, he is the leader of the SP group in Lok Sabha.

The party has five MPs, including Mulayam.

AKHILESH WAS IN SITAPUR TO CONSOLE A FAMILY WHOSE THREE MEMBERS WERE MURDERED ON JUNE 6.