Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav Friday offered support to either of the two deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh to form a government if they split their party and garnered the support of 100 legislators.
"Two deputy CMs are roaming in the state. They want to become chief minister. We are ready to make them CM with our party's support if they are able to manage the support of 100 legislators,'' Akhilesh said while addressing a public meeting at Rampur, where an assembly bypoll is slated for December 5.
The SP has 115 MLAs in the UP assembly which has a total strength of 403.
Akhilesh's offer, however, was ridiculed by one of the deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya, who said that the remarks were reflective of the ''mental bankruptcy'' of the SP president.
''Akhilesh is dreaming of becoming CM of UP once again but his dream will never come true. He seems to have lost his mental balance after staring at a certain defeat in the Rampur bypoll,'' Maurya said.
He also accused the UP government of being "vindictive" and said that senior SP leader Azam Khan had been slapped with scores of false criminal cases. ''I too had received a file containing some matter against the present CM of UP but I had then returned the file as we do not believe in harassing others,'' he added.
Bypolls to two assembly — Khatauli and Rampur — and one Lok Sabha seat of Mainpuri are slated for December 5.
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