The SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, announced Akhilesh’s appointment as the SP state president on Wednesday. Thirty-year-old Akhilesh, who was elected the MP from Kannauj and Ferozabad Lok Sabha seats, will be representing Kannauj in the Lok Sabha.

Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary said Akhilesh’s appointment “will give a new dimension and strength” to the organisation. “He is a down-to-earth person who leads from the front. He will infuse a new life into the party,” he said.

Akhilesh will take over from uncle Shivpal Yadav, who was appointed to the post after brother Mulayam decided to concentrate on national politics. The elevation comes soon after the Samajwadi Party dissolved its state units and frontal organisation for a review of its poll performance.

The new post pitches Akhilesh against Rahul Gandhi, who has big plans to revive the Congress in UP ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections. This means Akhilesh faces an uphill task, given the Congress’s stunning performance in the general elections cutting SP’s traditional minority votebank.

With founder member and senior Muslim leader Azam Khan expelled, the SP has also decided to make former parliamentarian Rasheed Masood a member of its Parliamentary Board, the apex decision-making body. Masood has been the SP’s pointsman for Muslim organisations, particularly Deoband. Though Masood, who had unsuccessfully contested last Vice-Presidential elections, lost the Lok Sabha elections from Saharanpur, his induction was necessary to reassure party’s minority support base.

Akhilesh has done his BTech from the University of Mysore, followed by a diploma in Environment Engineering from the University of Sydney. The MP used to head Samajwadi Party’s frontal youth organisations like the Lohia Vahini, Yuvjan Sabha, Chhatra Sabha and the Youth Brigade.

Akhilesh is net savvy with a personal website and is known to keep in touch with supporters through the social networking site Facebook.