Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati likely to meet soon

They may be sworn enemies and never come face-to-face, but this time, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will not be able to avoid BSP president Mayawati.

The chief minister will be unveiling portraits of all former UP chief ministers at the newly-constructed gallery on August 22 and Ms Mayawati’s portraits will also adorn the gallery.

Top artists have been commissioned to make the paintings of all former chief ministers and Speakers of the state Assembly. The gallery is a personal gift from Mr Akhilesh Yadav who will be dedicating the gallery to the public in the presence of all 403 MLAs and other dignitaries. He has sent personal invitations to all the former CMs and their family members. He will unveil the portrait in the personal presence of the former CMs. Governor Ram Naik, former CMs like Mulayam Singh Yadav, N.D. Tiwari, Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh are likely to attend the unveiling ceremony.

Ms Mayawati, too, has been invited, but it is unlikely that she will attend the function.

UP Assembly principal secretary Pradeep Dubey said that “Having an exclusive portrait gallery of the UP chief ministers is the concept of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who wanted to present a panoramic view of the state’s political journey and also wanted to offer his respects to his predecessors.” The gallery will also have oil portraits of all the 8 Speakers of UP Assembly who have been part of the journey and the evolution of the House.

For making these life-size oil portraits, the state Assembly has engaged world-class painters Krishan Kanhai and Govinda Kanhai, whose oil works are seen on the walls of the Parliament where they have made portraits of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani .

At the inauguration of the gallery, the UP Assembly will also release a coffee table book on the life and times of all the former chief ministers and Speakers.

If any of the former chief ministers who are alive and, for any reason, not able to attend the programme, their portraits would be unveiled only they come to the Assembly.

The chief minister will also inaugurate the digital version of the proceedings of the past 25 years. In the next phase, proceedings since the first Assembly to 1989 would be digitalized and uploaded.