Abdullah Azam, son of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, said on Monday while his father was languishing in jail for petty charges, Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son who is charged for murder has been granted bail. The Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur episode case last week.
Mr. Khan, who is lodged in the Sitapur jail is contesting from the Rampur seat, while Mr. Azam is in the fray from the neighbouring Suar constituency. “The public will answer through ballot why a person who has built a university is being troubled because of political agenda, while a minister’s son who has crushed farmers has been granted bail.” Mr. Khan is facing 80 odd cases, ranging from land encroachment and criminal intimidation to goat theft.
On the Bharatiya Janata Party’s charge that SP president Akhilesh Yadav saw Mr. Khan as a threat to his leadership and wanted him to remain in jail, Mr. Azam said it was typical of the BJP to try to divert attention from real issues. “They won’t talk of contradictions in their double-engine government... Instead of talking about farmers’ concerns, inflation and unemployment, the BJP has raked up the issue of hijab to polarise voters. The people have become tired of this ploy to vitiate the atmosphere,” he said.
Responding to the challenges of the contest in the absence of his father’s towering figure, Mr. Azam said, “Nobody could fill the absence of Azam Khan, but Rampur is family to us. We don’t contest here, people bless us and the world would know on March 10.” He played down the threat from the father-son duo from the Rampur’s royal family who are taking on Mr. Khan and Mr. Azam in Rampur and Suar on the Congress and Apna Dal(Sonelal)’s ticket respectively. “The people of Rampur have shown them their place and god willing they will do it again.”
Earlier, he appealed to the administration and Election Commission to allow people to come out and vote without fear. “I have received reports where our workers have been heckled and our voters have been asked to stay home. We are raising it with the EC,” he said.
