LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party's rising son, Akhilesh Yadav, said Tuesday he did not want to be the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and that his father Mulayam Singh Yadav was more deserving and would don the mantle.
"I am not in the race for the chief minister's post. The party feels that the responsibility should go to Netaji," he said, referring to party leader and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Thanking the people for voting in the party's favour, Akhilesh said: "People voted for us, rising above caste and religion. I assure them that party's election manifesto will be implemented and corruption will be curtailed."
He also declined to take credit for the victory, saying the entire party structure worked to rebuild the Samajwadi Party after its disastrous showing in 2007 when it won only 97 of the assembly's 403 seats.
Yadav junior declined to say anything about Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi but was critical of outgoing Chief Minister Mayawati, saying she had squandered away the huge mandate she got five years ago.
"If only she had spent all the money she spent on erecting statues on the state's development, it would have been good," he said.
He said the parliamentary board would meet Wednesday and will stake claim for forming the government in the state.
Replying to a question if the party would remove Mayawati's statues in state, Akhilesh said: "No statues will be removed and Netaji has said there is lot of place and it can be used for running some organisations." The reference was to the huge complexes within which the statues have been erected in different parts of the state.