Akhilesh ‘woos’ Rahul loyalist, raises eyebrows

Bhopal: SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday “wooed” former Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Arun Yadav, who has been inducted in the refurbished Congress Working Committee (CWC), to join his party, thus raising several eyebrows in the political circle here.

“I have offered him to join SP and hop on to the bicycle (the election symbol of SP),” Arun Yadav, who was on a two-day tour to MP to explore poll alliance with the Cong-ress, told reporters here.

However, he hastened to add that he was giving the same offer to “many senior leaders of the Congress” whom he knows closely.

The Congress leader, who was flanked by the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, simply smiled in answer to the latter’s offer.

Incidentally, the Congress leader was reportedly sulking ever since he was replaced by Kamal Nath as the MP Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president in April this year.

The OBC leader, said to be enjoying the confidence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, was inducted in CWC reportedly to mollify him.

He invited the SP president to tea at his house here on Friday. The SP leader’s comment created ripples in the Cong-ress circle here with a section of the party leaders taking it seriously.