Akhilesh Yadav parries question on whether SP will back Rahul as PM

Opp. alliance to oust Modi in ’ 19: SP chief

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday avoided a direct reply when asked whether his party would support Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister.

He said that the non-BJP parties were working to stitch an alliance to “replace” Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

“The country wants to see a new government at the Centre. People want to see a new Prime Minister. You will see a new Prime Minister after the elections,” he said when asked whether he saw himself or the Congress president as the next Prime Minister.

Asked specifically if his party would support Rahul Gandhi for the PM’s post — if a non- BJP coalition gets the chance to form a government after the 2019 elections — Mr Yadav, speaking at a

The country wants to see a new government at the Centre. People want to see a new Prime Minister. You will see a new Prime Minister after the elections. — Akhilesh Yadav, SP chief

press conference here, repeated his reply.

He, however, noted that during the recent byelections in Kairana and elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress supported the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The Samajwadi Party ( SP) chief said it was imperative to forge an alliance among the Opposition parties to dislodge PM in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

“Mr Modi will be replaced ( in the 2019 parliamentary polls). Country is going to get a new PM,” Mr Yadav, who was here to explore alliance with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh in the forthcoming LS elections, told reporters here.

He also parried a question as to if SP was mulling to enter into alliance with Congress in MP in the upcoming Assembly elections in MP, slated for November this year, saying that SP should expand in MP and fight polls on its own.

Mr Yadav said the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in MP has failed in all fronts.

He said the law and order problem in the state was a cause of concern.

Besides, growing incidents of suicides of farmers indicated that the peasants were being ignored by the state government in MP.

Mr Yadav also alleged large scale corruption in the MP government particularly citing the Vyapam scandal the shadow of which cast in Uttar Pradesh even.