Thousands throng Akhilesh's house at maiden 'janata darshan'

Lucknow, April 18 (IANS) Over 12,000 people from across Uttar Pradesh thronged Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's official residence here Wednesday at his maiden 'janata darshan', officials said.

Akhilesh was flooded with favour seekers and complainants at his 5, Kalidas Marg official residence at the 'janata darshan' which was discontinued during the regime of his predecessor, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati.

As the gates of the sprawling CM's residence opened at 9 a.m. on the first day of the 'janata darshan', there was a surging crowd outside who wanted to get inside and meet the 38-year-old chief minister.

Harish Yadav, a resident of Etah, told IANS that he had travelled to the state capital in the hope that his problems with regards to a local police official will be solved.

There was a large presence of youths and farmers in the crowd. All of them were carrying petitions and applications. The police force present at the high security area had a tough time managing the crowd. Special barricading was done to discipline the crowd which was getting restless after being denied entry into the residence of the chief minister.

Only a handful from the crowd were allowed inside and were herded into the spacious conference room. The people who managed to meet the chief minister were happy that at least they were able to present their problems before him.

"I am convinced that after hearing my problem there would be some solution," said Anwar, from Azamgarh, who was looking for some financial help.

Officials said more than 12,000 people turned up at the 'janata darshan'.

Following the large turn out, officials at the chief minister's office are mulling an action plan where district magistrates, chief development officers and senior superintendents of police would be asked to hold similar interactions with people in their respective areas.

The 'janata darshan' has been a permanent fixture with successive chief ministers in Uttar Pradesh and was started by Mulayam Singh Yadav back in the 1990s. It was continued by his successors Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh of the BJP but Mayawati discontinued the practice.