Akhilesh Yadav's political journey

Akhilesh is 39. He was born on July 1, 1973 to Mulayam Singh Yadav and Malti Devi in Saifai of Etawah district in UP, their only son.

Akhilesh has a Sainik school education - still considered in many parts of India as the most disciplined schooling that a young boy can get. He studied at the Sainik School in Dhaulpur, Rajasthan. Akhilesh then did his Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering in Civil Environment Engineering at the University of Mysore in Karnataka. He then got a Master's degree in environmental engineering from the University of Sydney in Australia. 

Akhilesh is married to Dimple, made famous by her attempt at politics in a 2009 by-election in Ferozabad. She was contesting for a seat that her husband had won and vacated less than five months before. She lost to the Congress' Raj Babbar, a former Samajwadi Party man. The SP had thought this was a sitter; the Congress made it a prestige battle, with Rahul Gandhi leading a pantheon of leaders to campaign for Mr Babbar. Akhilesh and Dimple were married in November 1999. Akhilesh seems to wear his heart on his sleeve when it comes to his winsome wife. He is variously quoted to have declared his love for her and has even said that "shaadi hote hi kismat khul gayi (got lucky as soon as I got married)."

Akhilesh and Dimple have three children - Aditi and twins, Arjun and Tina.

A keen environmentalist, Akhilesh was contemplating taking up water pollution projects when his father drafted him into politics. He lists his profession on his official Lok Sabha bio data as Agriculturist, Engineer and Political and Social Worker.

Akhilesh is a die-hard socialist. Get him talking and he would like to talk at length about Ram Manohar Lohia.

Akhilesh was 27 when he entered the Lok Sabha first, winning from Kannauj in 2000, when his father Mulayam Singh vacated the seat having won two - Mainpuri and Kannauj. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh contested two seats and won both. He kept Kannauj and gave up Ferozabad.

He took over as the SP's UP president in June 2009. He had already been heading the party's youth wing for some time. His first task he had said then was to review his party's electoral setbacks to draw vital lessons and take corrective action.

Akhilesh's magic potion in UP involved an attempt to strip the party of its image as a "party of hooligans." He promised UP freedom from "goonda raj" or lawlessness. He promised laptops and tablets for students and brought in more young, educated professionals into his party. UP bought the dream he sold and handed him a handsome mandate.

Delivering on his promise has proved hard work. Law and order is still in a disarray in UP, his rivals point out and that charge is only bolstered by the regular incidents of violence that are reported in the state, most recently the murder of a senior cop in Kunda. Earlier this week, Mr Yadav distributed 10,000 laptops though, to fulfill his other big poll promise.