Akhilesh calls Rahul 'achha ladka'

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday called Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi an “achha ladka” (good boy) and welcomed him to visit the state regularly.

This has triggered speculation about a post-poll alliance in the state. Political circles saw the remark as an indication of an understanding between the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) in the event of a fractured mandate in the 2017 Assembly elections.

“Rahulji is a good person....achha ladka hain...we can become friends if he keeps coming to Uttar Pradesh regularly,” Akhilesh said, replying to a question about Rahul’s ongoing rally in the state.

The chief minister, however, evaded a direct reply on the possibility of an alliance between the two parties. “Why do you (media) derive political meanings when two good people meet?” he said.

Akhilesh, also the SP state unit chief, indirectly snubbed those who had passed sarcastic remarks on the looting of cots by farmers at Rahul’s ‘khat sabha’ (cot meet) in Deoria on Tuesday.

“The farmers carried the cots on cycles (the SP’s symbol)...they will sit on them and operate laptops,” he said. The chief minister said if his party workers had taken away the cots, the media would have said it was looted by ‘Samajwadi goondas’.

Akhilesh’s remarks appear to be significant as some poll surveys have predicted a hung Assembly in the state, with the BJP and SP bagging almost identical number of seats. “The SP had supported the UPA government...there can be a post-poll understanding in the event of a fractured mandate,” said political analyst J P Shukla.