Lucknow: Reacting on DMK president M K Stalin's proposal to project Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav said Tuesday it was not necessarily the alliance's opinion. BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, whose parties have extended support to the Congress government, were conspicuous by their absence. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also did not participate but had sent a party leader.

Talking to reporters after unveiling a statue of his father and legendary Tamil leader M Karunanidhi in Chennai on December 16, Stalin had "proposed" Gandhi's name for the opposition's prime ministerial candidate. "The people of the country are unhappy with the BJP and that it why the Congress got success in three states."

"West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, NCP leader Sharad Pawar and others had tried to bring all the leaders together to form an alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. If someone (Stalin) is giving his opinion on the PM candidate, it is not necessary that all alliance partners have the same opinion," Yadav said.

So this exercise will keep going on. The BJP need not worry about it." he added