Coming up, a pocketbook on Akhilesh - in 10 languages

Lucknow, April 21 (IANS) If you're curious about Uttar Pradesh's new, youngest chief minister, wait till a 200-page multi-language pocketbook on Akhilesh Yadav hits the stands next week.

The book, also the first on the 38-year-old who came to power last month, is titled 'Akhilesh Yadav -- The Lord of New Hopes'. It is being published by popular publishing house Diamond Books.

'Initially, we are printing about 50,000 copies of which 10,000 are in English and Hindi,' Narendra Verma, chairman-cum-managing director of New Delhi-based Diamond Books, told IANS.

It will be brought out in eight other languages as well - Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malyalam, Marathi, Odiya and Gujarati.

When asked what prompted him to publish the book, Verma said he was 'mighty impressed by the way Akhilesh Yadav snuffed out the political gauntlet thrown at him by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati'.

'It was an instinctive decision and I am happy that the book has turned out well,' he said.

He said Yagya Dutt Sharma, an octogenarian from Bijnor, wrote the book with the assistance of Avijit Suryavanshi, a youngster from Lucknow.

The book has 14 chapters on topics such as Akhilesh Yadav's childhood, college days, political grooming, connection with the next generation, relationship with his father, the Kranti Rath Yatra and his ascent to the chief minister's post.

The book is being translated into other languages by prominent writers and authors, including Jigar Patel (Gujrati), Ravinder Kohley (Marathi) and Kartic Dey (Bangla).

The publishers are trying to rope in Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan and Mulayam Singh Yadav to release the book.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)