Both Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi are nominees of CII, Ficci: UP CM Akhilesh Yadav.......

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavhas questioned the pan-India appeal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi while seeming to poke fun at Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, his rival in the UP polls last year.

The 39-year-old politician, the youngest chief minister of India's largest state, also questioned the secular credentials of hisBihar counterpart, Nitish Kumar, because of the latter's long innings as a member of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

In an hour-long interview to ET at his residence in Lucknow, Yadav said both Modi and Gandhi were the nominees of industry bodies CII and Ficci. The two leaders, the presumptive PM candidates of their respective parties, have recently made highprofile appearances at industry events organised by the two chambers of commerce.

UPA Govt in Last Stages

Yadav, who was generally dismissive of the prospects of both leaders in the course of the conversation, said the socalled Modi wave is a media creation and the Gujarat CM's appeal is restricted to his home state.

"He (Modi) is in the media and Gujarat and nowhere else...he had come to UP during the polls (in 2012) but could not do wonders," says Yadav. He stressed that the Samajwadi Party(SP) headed by his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, had tackled "big storms" in the past and dismissed the view that Modi could polarise votes in the state.

"Muslims (thought to be averse to Modi) are very aware and well informed voters, especially in UP. I can say that SP will receive their support... I do not think one person coming in will change voting patterns."

He tauntingly described Gandhi as bhavishya ke neta (leader of the future). "Woh to bhavishya ke neta hain. Sab kehte hain to hum bhi kehte hain. Par pata nahin vo bhavishya kab aayega! (He is the leader of the future. Everyone says it, so I say it too. But I don't know when that future will come.)"

He was also non-committal on his party's continuing support to the UPA even as he stressed that the government had the support of the SP for the time being. "It continues right now. But what will happen tomorrow, I can't say."

In any case, the UPA government was in its last stages, Yadav said, as even the Congress has indicated that polls could be round the corner. But whether the SP would actually topple the government was a decision that his father and party head Mulayam Singh Yadav would take.

He tore into Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's secular image stating that the twoterm chief minister's professions of secularism "confuses" him at times. " He is called a secular leader. How secular can he prove himself to be I cannot say. But I fail to understand how you can be secular while being with the BJP."

Yadav also accused senior BJP leader LK Advani of taking advantage of what he described as his father's simple nature. Referring to the elder Yadav's recent praise of Advani and criticism of the UP government, he said that his father had not been able to see through Advani's politics on that occasion.