Akhilesh Yadav – the SP’s modern face

PTI

Akhilesh Yadav, who scripted the Samajwadi Party’s spectacular victory in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, is seen as its modern face who gave it an image makeover.

Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav was always seen as a party of the old mindset in a state whose politics is dominated by caste and religious issues.

With his father said to be not in the best of health, Mr. Akhilesh, 38, took on the role of the party’s chief campaigner and gave it a new dynamism talking of development and eschewing personal attacks against rivals.

One of the important accomplishments of his was that he played a leading role in shedding SP’s image of being anti-English and anti-computers and also in denying tickets to candidates with criminal antecedents.

Born on July 1, 1973, Mr. Akhilesh studied at the Military School in Dholpur, Rajasthan, and then acquired a degree in civil environment engineering from the Mysore University.

Mr. Akhilesh finished Masters in environmental engineering from the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1998 and was contemplating taking up water pollution projects when his father and three times Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav drafted him into politics. He cut his teeth early in politics.