Akhilesh says not in race for PM post

The country is looking for a new prime minister and the BJP needs to come out with a new face, if it has one, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said Monday while making it clear that he is not in the race for the top post.

"As far as leadership issue is concerned, it is actually the people who decide it...you will see, in time to come, how many choices we have," he told reporters here when asked as to who would be the leader of opposition parties against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He, however, made it clear that he was "not in the prime ministerial race".

"But, one thing is totally clear that the country is waiting for a new prime minister...if the BJP, which is so concerned about us, has a new prime minister, they should tell the people," Yadav, who recently shared platform with opposition leaders in Kolkata, said.

To a question, the SP president said the SP and the BSP have taken a decision on most of the seats and an announcement in this regard will be made soon.

"As far as SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav is concerned, the party will field him from the seat of his choice," he said.

Asked whether his wife and Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav will contest polls again, Akhilesh said, "We are liberal people...If you say she will contest. If you say we are practicising 'pariwarwad', she will not."
Without naming the prime minister, Yadav said, "The one who is occupying the highest position is also using such language."
On the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas, which started Monday in Varanasi, he said, "Since many years, we are waiting for NRIs to invest in the state...maybe those coming here will have a change of heart after seeing Kumbh and taking a holy dip in the Ganga, and they will invest in a big way."