Never seen SBSP chief Rajbhar standing under the sun: Azam
Upset over the defeat of SP candidates in Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls, SP alliance partner SBSP chief OP Rajbhar had questioned the absence of Akhilesh Yadav from campaigning on ground
PRAYAGRAJ Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan said that he had never seen Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar standing out under the sun, in a rebuttal to the latter’s recent statement on SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

Last month, upset over the defeat of SP candidates in Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls, SP alliance partner SBSP chief OP Rajbhar had questioned the absence of Akhilesh Yadav from campaigning on ground.
Rajbhar, who had campaigned extensively for SP candidate Dharmendra Yadav in Azamgarh, had said: “Battles can’t be fought from air-conditioned rooms. The commander should lead the force from the front. The SP chief should take lessons from his father.”
Following the statement, differences had surfaced between Rajbhar and Akhilesh.
On Tuesday night, when Khan was asked to comment on Rajbhar’s statement, he said: “I have not seen him under the sun.”
On Wednesday, when a section of media took Azam’s comment as a statement in favour of Rajbhar (taking the word “him” for Akhilesh), Khan clarified his stand in a tweet.
Azam Khan was in Sangam city on Tuesday night to meet his lawyer.
During a brief interaction with a section of media, he targeted the state government, saying it had unleashed vendetta against his family as they were even accused of stealing goats. “Despite being a 10-time MLA, two-time MP, four-time minister and a former leader of the opposition, I am not a respectable man, but rather a dacoit who has looted chicken, buffalo, goats, books, furniture etc,” he said sarcastically.
“This is the city (Prayagraj), which gives justice and we have come here seeking justice,” he added.
Hitting out at the cases lodged against him in the state in recent years, Khan stated, “My assistant professor wife, two-time MLA son, who is an M Tech from a reputed university, and I have looted an amount of ₹16,900 from a liquor shop…this is the status of this system!”
In September 2019, a case was registered against Azam Khan in connection with a 2013 incident in which he, along with few others, were accused by a bar owner of looting over ₹16,000 from him while occupying a piece of land in Rampur district.

E-Paper

