I won't be UP chief minister: Akhilesh Yadav

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Samajwadi Party's new face Akhilesh Yadav said he did not want to be the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, saying his father Mulayam Singh Yadav deserved the job.

"I am not in the race for chief minister's post," Akhilesh Yadav told a television channel.

"The party feels that the responsibility should go to Netaji," he said, referring to party leader and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Akhilesh Yadav voiced confidence that the Samajwadi Party would be able to form a government in Uttar Pradesh despite marginally falling short of the halfway mark in the 403-member house.

He also declined to take credit for the victory, saying the entire party structure worked to rebuild the Samajwadi Party after its disastrous showing of 2007 when it won only 97 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.