New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday reacted to posters calling him the 'future prime minister' of the country, saying that no one will become the PM by just putting up posters.
He further stated that the only goal of Samajwadi Pary is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the elections, reported news agency ANI.
Speaking to reporters, the Samajwadi Party chief said, "No one is going to become the Prime Minister just by putting posters. If any supporter has put up a poster, he is expressing what he wants. The goal of Samajwadis is to stop BJP."
Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party workers put up a hoarding in Uttar Pradesh's capital city Lucknow referring to party chief Akhilesh Yadav as the "future Prime Minister" of the country, saying that they want him to be the leader of the opposition's I.N.D.I.A bloc.
The hoarding was reportedly put by party spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan, reported ANI. "Samajwadi Party leaders and workers want Akhilesh Yadav to become the PM of the country...In the INDIA alliance, we want Akhilesh Yadav to become the face of Prime Minister...Anybody can claim but the one who can actually defeat BJP is Samajwadi Party," Hasan told ANI.
Meanwhile, reacting to it, BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh said in the I.N.D.I.A bloc already 18 people are aspiring to become the PM, including Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, KCR, and Stalin, adding that " now the 19th aspirant for PM has come."
"In the INDIA alliance already there are 18 people aspiring to become PM. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee wants to become the PM. Nitish Kumar, KCR, and Stalin also want to become the PM. Everyone, be it Arvind Kejriwal or the family members of Lalu Yadav, or Akhilesh Yadav, everybody wants to become the PM. Now the 19th aspirant for PM has come. Let them come but all of them want to bring a crippled government into the country," he said.
However, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya said, "Since the INDIA alliance is made, workers of all the political parties want their party leader to be Prime Minister... As our leaders in INDIA (alliance) have said, first we will make a government of alliance, and who will be PM, we will decide by discussion. So first, let parliamentary elections happen."
This comes amid an ongoing tussle between the SP and Congress in Madhya Pradesh after the former expressed anger over Congress's reluctance in seat-sharing in the state ahead of assembly polls.