After Samajwadi Party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls,its president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday appointed his son Akhilesh as the UP party chief in an effort to revamp the state unit. 36-year-old Akhilesh replaces Yadav's brother Shivpal,SP General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters. Akhilesh had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Kanauj and Ferozabad and won both the seats. Ram Gopal,who is the elder brother of the SP chief,said the new appointment would send a message that the party wanted to encourage the youth. It is the young people who do most of the work for a party - be it during campaign or in mobilising people," he said. The term of the state general secretary and former Ghazipur MP Om Prakash Singh has also been extended. Seeking to woo Muslims,many of whom drifted from the party after Kalyan Singh joined hands with Mulayam,the SP appointed Rashid Masood as a member of the its Parliamentary Board. Masood is an MP from Saharanpur. The SP won 23 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh this time against 36 in 2004 - 35 in UP and one in Uttarakhand.
