Decision on alliance in a day or two; ties with 'Netaji' unbreakable, will take him along: Akhilesh Yadav

A day after Election Commission (EC) gave the cycle symbol to the faction of Samajawadi Party (SP) headed by Akhilesh Yadav, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on Tuesday said that a call on the alliance will be taken in a day or two.

Dealing a severe blow to Mulayam Singh Yadav, the EC gave the symbol to the faction headed by Akhilesh , recognising it as the Samajwadi Party

"Decision on alliance (with Congress) will be taken in a day or two," Akhilesh said, after retaining the party symbol.

The Uttar Pradesh CM also said that he will take 'Netaji' (Mulayam) along, saying ties with him are 'unbreakable'.

The Uttar Pradesh assembly poll process kicked off on Tuesday with the EC issuing notification for the first phase of voting on February 11 which will cover 73 constituencies spread over 15 districts in Muslim dominated Western UP.

Welcoming the decision, SP General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh's uncle and the main strategist of his group, expressed the hope that a grand secular alliance will be formed to fight the elections, an apparent reference to a tie-up with Congress and some other outfits.

The Commission noted that Akhilesh's faction had filed the affidavits of 205 of the 228 MLAs, 56 out of 68 MLCs, 15 out of 24 MPs, 28 out of 46 National Executive members and 4400 out of 5731 National Convention delegates which accounted for total delegates of 4716 out of 5731.

The order said Mulayam Singh's side did not file any affidavit of MPs or MLAs or any delegates claiming allegiance to it with the SP supremo, maintaining that there was no split in the party needing determination of a dispute.