Akhilesh Yadav: Despite problems, SP is still party No. 1

LUCKNOW: In 2011, he went out on a rath and went on to become the country's youngest chief minister when his party posted a landslide victory. Five years later, UP CM Akhilesh Yadav is all set to embark on yet another rath yatra, this time battling a raging feud within the party and his family. But he says despite all the problems and squabbling, SP is still the number one party.
"Hamari party toh itna ladai-jhagde ke bawazood bhi number 1 par hai," he told TOI on the eve of his Vikas Rath Yatra that begins on Thursday.
He said all senior members of the party have been invited, including Shivpal Yadav, his uncle, who replaced him as SP's state unit chief and then got removed from the cabinet. "I have invited him. This is a party function. The rath yatra is not my personal programme and I am very much a part of the party ," said Akhilesh.
His other uncle, Ram Gopal Yadav, who was suspended from the party last week, will, however, not be there. "How can he attend? He is not a member anymore," the chief minister said.
Asked if the rumblings in the party over the past few weeks had an impact on his yatra, Akhilesh said: "The only impact is that it got delayed by a month. The yatra, which was to begin on October 3, will now begin on November 3."
While he did not wish to comment on the possibilities of a 'mahagathbandhan' in UP, saying that it is being worked out by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh said that a "bigger picture is emerging".
He pooh-poohed Mayawati's claim that Muslims are veering towards BSP and said SP is the only option for them. He added that Hindus, too, are with SP. "If we built the Muhgal Museum in Agra, we have also worked on theme park on Lord Ram in Ayodhya. There is a saying - Joh sabse zyada kaam karega, woh mewa khayega," the CM said, elaborating that since SP has worked for the development of the state which benefitted both Hindus and Muslims, the party will enjoy the spoils.
He took on the BJP, saying the party may be bringing out a "parivartan yatra" but there is nothing it has changed in the past two-and-a-half years.
"SP is facing no competition on the ground. The other parties are lagging behind.We would have been further ahead if the rath yatra had not got delayed. But once it hits the road, we will gain ground and surge far ahead of others," said Akhilesh.
Stressing that there was no discord in SP, Akhilesh said the dates of the two programmes - flagging off of the rath on Thursday and SP's silver jubilee celebrations on November 5 - were decided much earlier and nothing should be read into this. "It is good that party workers have begun arriving already and an electrifying atmosphere has got created. It is said that democracy is a celebration. Can there be a bigger celebration than this?" he said.