Azam Khan hints at parting ways with Akhilesh

That Azam was charting his own course became evident when he refused to meet a delegation of the SP that tried to meet him at Rampur

Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, who walked out of jail after more than two years after the Supreme Court ordered his release on interim bail on Saturday, hinted at parting ways with SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

Khan faced dozens of cases, including those of land grabbing and threatening government officials.

Speaking to reporters at his assembly constituency Rampur, Azam said that he had been betrayed by his own people. "My own people are behind my troubles. I pray to God to give wisdom to such people," he remarked.

Khan and his son Abdullah Azam, who was also an SP MLA, did not take part in the training program organised for the new legislators to give them training in the use of new technology in legislative works.

Also read | My own people contributed to my destruction: Azam Khan

That Azam was charting his own course was also evident when he refused to meet a delegation of the SP that tried to meet him at Rampur on Friday evening. He said he couldn't meet them as he was unwell.

The SP leader claimed that he was "threatened" while he was in jail. ''A cop threatened to kill me in an encounter,'' Khan alleged.

Akhilesh had come under attack from some Muslim leaders of the party for "ignoring" the leaders of the community. A close aide of Azam Khan said that Akhilesh had "humiliated" Khan and indicated that Khan could leave the party in the near future.

"Akhilesh visited Azam Khan only once in jail in the past two years. He (Khan) was not made leader of the opposition. Muslim leaders are not being appointed to senior positions in the party," Azam's media in-charge Fasahat Ali alias Shanu had recently said.

Shanu said that Muslims had voted en-masse for the SP in the recently concluded assembly polls. "Akhilesh managed to win over one hundred seats only with the support of the Muslims," he said. "We (Muslims) were behind his success but now our clothes stink as Akhilesh does not allow us near him," Shanu said.

Akhilesh's uncle and party MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav has already parted ways with Akhilesh and has indicated that he may join hands with Azam. Sources close to Azam said that he could form his own outfit rather than join some other party.