This is the home page of Akhilesh Yadav Yuvjan Party. Though it sounds like a political party, it is in fact the website of two-time parliamentarian from Kannauj, Akhilesh Yadav, son of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and the party’s patron of youth affairs.

Hailing from Etawah-one of the most backward towns of UP-35-year-old Akhilesh is perhaps the only politician of Gen X, at least in the state, who is making full use of information technology to gain political mileage. And why not? With a diploma in Environment Engineering from University of Sydney, Australia, Akhilesh has done his BTech from University of Mysore, Karnataka.

His site is updated regularly and the responses are quick. Through his website, the young SP leader tries to connect with educated youth. His clarion call — “Be a part of the Akhilesh Yadav team”.

His close associate Anurag Yadav confirms: “Bhaiya motivates all youth members of Yuvjan Sabha and Chhatra Sabha to use the Internet to stay connected. Most of them have started using the net”. The site is professionally managed and a team of IT experts tag along with Akhilesh, who is always equipped with his laptop wherever he goes.

“The advantage with net is that I can tell my people about all my activities,” says Akhilesh, who is contesting from Kannauj and Ferozabad this time. “For example, if I address a meeting in a remote area, the media would not cover it, but through internet, my supporters and friends can see it and listen to what I said.”

The site also has a blog.

His last entry was on “Corruption crime and birthday”, in which Akhilesh wrote: “I have been a MP for almost eight years and in my political career, I never saw the kind of organised corruption being rendered by present government in the name of collection of funds for the party. The ghoulish death of an engineer allegedly at the hands of a legislator after he refused to pay for UP Chief Minister Mayawati’s birthday celebration shows the bizarre nature of politics in the state.”

And it is not the website alone, Akhilesh is utilising social networking sites Facebook and Orkut to their maximum potential.

On Facebook, he has over 300 regular members and on Orkut there are over 1,000. “This is the best was to communicate with friends and well wishers,” says Akhilesh, who mostly does his net communication through Blackberry while travelling.

And the feedback, he says, is useful: “One of my friends in the US suggested a slogan — UP ka mangal kab hoga, jab haathi jungle me hoga”.