Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has emerged stronger in the eyes of the people from the family feud. He has not only become the first choice as CM compared to Mulayam Singh Yadav but has also been a big hit among the Muslims and the Yadavs - the core vote bank of Samajwadi Party.
These facts came to light in a survey carried out by C-voter which appeared in a Hindi newspaper on Sunday. Carried out in all 403 constituencies of UP, the survey questioned 11,000 people on the Yadav family feud and its impact on Akhilesh, Mulayam and Shivpal Singh Yadav.
The survey claimed that over 70 per cent Yadavs wanted Akhilesh Yadav as the next Chief Minister while only 25 percent favoured Mulayam Singh Yadav as the next CM.
Similarly, among Muslims, a whopping 75 percent supported Akhilesh as the next Chief Minister while a paltry 19 per cent rooted for Mulayam Singh Yadav to be projected as the next CM.
On the million dollar question about the popularity of Akhilesh versus Shivpal, the `Bhatija' is seen as head and shoulder over his `Chacha'. Akhilesh romped home with 77 per cent people voting in his favour while just 7 per cent people said aye for Shivpal. Interestingly, even among SP supporters, 88 percent people gave precedence to Akhilesh over his Chacha.
As to who would be a better CM - Akhilesh Yadav or Mulayam Singh, over 66 per cent people favoured Akhilesh and merely 19 percent rooted for the SP patriarch.
To another question on whether Akhilesh was trying to get rid of criminal elements of the SP- over 38 per cent respondents opined that he tried but failed while 24 percent said his efforts have started showing results. Another 24 per cent people said that this was a poll issue.