SP reaches out to ‘angry’ Azam Khan

RLD chief Jayant Singh’s visit to family of imprisoned leader seen as olive branch

With the Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Singh meeting the Azam Khan family, it has become clear that Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav wants to reach out to the disgruntled senior party leader who has been in jail for more than two years.

Though both the SP and the RLD refrained from making a statement and Mr Akhilesh Yadav told reporters at an event in Agra that he didn’t send Mr Singh, senior RLD sources admitted that Mr Singh did act like a mediator.

“He told Abdullah Azam to show patience,” said a senior RLD leader. An MLA from Suar seat in Rampur, Mr Abdullah is the political heir of Mr Khan who has been indisposed for almost a year. “The family is a little disturbed but we believe ultimately they will stay with the party,” he said.

The faultiness emerged when Fasahat Khan Shanu, the media in-charge and a confidant of Mr Khan, cryptically said at a meeting of party workers that Yodi Adityanath was right when he said Mr Yadav didn’t want Mr Khan to come out of jail. He said in the recently held Assembly polls Muslims overwhelmingly voted for SP in the polls on the direction of Mr Khan, who secured the Rampur seat for the tenth time. “But Muslims are being ignored in the party. It seems Mr Yadav gets bad odour from our clothes,” he said, reminding the audience that the SP President met Mr Khan only once in jail.

Sources said Mr Khan, who is facing 80-odd cases, could be released on bail before Id but there is fresh trouble brewing for him as a Firozabad court has issued non-bailable warrants against him in a 15-year-old case about making provocative remarks.

SP spokesperson Abdul Hafeez Gandhi said everybody in the party was entitled to hold his views. “Azam sahab is the founding member of the party. The whole party stands with his family. We know that the present BJP government is doing vendetta politics with him. We hoped the judiciary will do justice with him.”

Mr Gandhi said the party was in touch with the family but described Mr Singh’s visit as a courtesy call. “I cannot say that he went as a mediator.”