When Akhilesh Yadav was rejected by Maruti as a dealership applicant

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav may have displayed uncommon political ability by vanquishing his father and uncles in a battle for control of the Samajwadi Party, but about two decades ago, he was rejected by Maruti, India’s largest car-maker, as an applicant for a dealership. 

His father, then the country’s defence minister, had made the approach, having decided his son, fresh from Australia, with a degree in environmental engineering, was unfit for politics. After meeting Yadav fils, however, a senior Maruti official concluded that his knowledge of the automobile industry was too sparse to warrant a dealership. Plus, he added, the number of hangers-on around Yadav convinced him that the young man was headed for a successful political career.