JOIN USSamajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday sprang to the defence of their ‘controversial’ colleague and state minister Azam Khan and slammed the Election Commission (EC) for taking action against him for alleged provocative speeches.
While Akhilesh asked the people to “reply” to what he termed “injustice” against his party through “votes”, Mulayam said that the poll panel had no “authority” to ban someone from campaigning. “The EC took action against Azam without going through the reply submitted by him in response to the notice issued to him,” Akhilesh said, while addressing an election rally in Budaon, about 300 km from here. He said that people of the state would give a befitting reply to the “injustice” meted out to the party by voting for it in large numbers.
Mulayam, on the other hand, while addressing an election rally in Rampur said, “I too have received a notice... who will campaign for our party if everybody is banned?”
Khan had on Sunday attacked the EC, accusing it of acting at the behest of the Congress and said that he could move court against the poll panel’s orders. “The Congress is using the EC on the lines of the CBI,” he had alleged.
Two cases had been registered against Khan in connection with ‘hate speeches’ during campaigning. A few days ago, he had allegedly said that people should not vote for someone whose hands were coloured with blood. Prior to that, he had stoked a controversy by saying that the Kargil war had been won by Muslim soldiers only. The EC has banned Khan from campaigning and any kind of interaction with people.