Akhilesh Yadav is expected to steer the UP Development Council, which is expected to become the agenda-setting agency of the new state government under father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The council, which had turned defunct under the BSP government, had worked to bring businessmen and government officials on one platform during the earlier Samajwadi Party (SP) government.

Akhilesh Yadav?s entry into the council will give it more teeth and expand its role in the new government. In an interview to FE earlier this week, he had said: ?During our previous reign, we had in place a UP Development Council, which had the best industry brains looking into industry issues, and it charted policies for us in sync with their requirements.?

He had said the council may not have the same name. ?But as a concept, yes, we will have something on those lines and we want to create a healthy atmosphere for investment to flow in.? Akhilesh is, however, not expected to join government.

Akhilesh Yadav told the press on Tuesday said the new government?s priorities will be anti-corruption measures and providing an impetus to growth. ?People of the state have risen above caste and religion to vote out the BSP government, the hallmark of which was extreme corruption and murders. This goes to show that all sections of the society, irrespective of caste or religion, felt corruption was the most important issue and came out in our support.?

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Basking in the glory of giving his party its biggest victory, Akhilesh said SP would fulfill all its poll promises, including implementation of Sachar and Rangnath Mishra committee recommendations.

Stating that Netaji ? a moniker for his father SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav ? is the ?obvious choice? for the chief minister?s post, Akhilesh said the party?s parliamentary board would meet on Wednesday, after which it will stake claim for forming the government.?

SP is not keen to acquire farmland for industry ?until and unless there is an urgent need.? ?There is no dearth of land in the state. When we will connect the remotest parts of the state with good highways, distance will not be a factor. We can provide large tracts of land in places where farming is not a viable option and the industry, too will not feel the pinch as it would be well connected,? he said.

Allaying fears about a repeat of the ?goonda raj? during the previous SP regime, Akhilesh said that the party?s priority would be law and order and no one would be allowed to break it. ?We will take strict action against those who would take law in their hands, and that includes anyone in the family too,? he said.

Akhilesh said his party has no plans to demolish the giant statues of BSP supremo Mayawati and party symbol elephant. ?None of them will be pulled down after the change of guard. The places vacant in the parks where the memorials have been set up after spending huge sums of money can be used for the construction of hospitals and educational institutes instead,? he said.

Talking about the Congress party?s flop show, a senior professor at the Lucknow University said what probably harmed the Congress most was Rahul Gandhi?s comment that the people of UP are ?bhikharis? (beggars). ?It did not go down well with the people of the state. Besides Rahul sounded very aggressive. While the picture of Akhilesh, with his sweet smile, conveyed the image of a typical ?bhaiyya?, Rahul wore the hat of a ?baba?. People could relate to the fresh face of Akhilesh, allaying concerns of the goonda raj??, he said.