Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday evaded questions over his party colleague Azam Khan. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister refused to answer reporters over the buzz around his colleague being upset with the party, Hindustan Times' sister website Live Hindustan reported.
The Samajwadi Party chief along with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav met the party workers in bastion Mainpuri. After a closed-door interaction with workers, Yadav addressed a press conference.
During the presser, Akhilesh Yadav was asked about reports of party colleague Azam Khan being upset with the party. “I didn't address the presser for this issue. I saw you gathered here in large numbers and thought of greeting you with a namaste,” he told reporters, evading the question.
When asked for the second time, the Samajwadi Party chief said he didn't want to say anything. After a while, he was asked the same question. He said,"chhodiye in baaton ko (Leave it)." Towards the end of the presser when he was asked the same question, the former UP chief minister retorted, "Why were such topics not discussed two months ago."
Speculations of Azam Khan's angst with the party came to the fore after his media in-charge's remark. "“CM Yogi’s comment was right that Akhilesh doesn’t want Azam Khan to be out (of jail),” the Rampur MLA's media in-charge Fasahat Khan alias Shanu said.
“On the indication of Azam Khan saheb, the Muslims not only in Rampur, but also in several districts around it voted for the SP. But our rashtriya adhakshya ji (the SP national president) did not take the side of Muslims. Azam Khan is in jail for more than two years, but the SP president only once went to meet him in jail. Not just this, he was also not made the leader of opposition, nor are Muslims being given importance in the party," Shanu added during a meeting at the Samajwadi Party office in Rampur.
Azam Khan, currently lodged in Sitapur Jail, contested the Rampur seat in the 2022 Assembly polls and won for the tenth time. He served as a cabinet minister during the chief ministerial stint of Akhilesh Yadav between 2012 and 2017.
“On the indication of Azam Khan saheb, the Muslims not only in Rampur, but also in several districts around it voted for the SP. But our rashtriya adhakshya ji (the SP national president) did not take the side of Muslims. Azam Khan is in jail for more than two years, but the SP president only once went to meet him in jail. Not just this, he was also not made the leader of opposition, nor are Muslims being given importance in the party," Shanu added during a meeting at the Samajwadi Party office in Rampur.
Azam Khan, currently lodged in Sitapur Jail, contested the Rampur seat in the 2022 Assembly polls and won for the tenth time. He served as a cabinet minister during the chief ministerial stint of Akhilesh Yadav between 2012 and 2017.