LUCKNOW: In a politically crucial development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally Apna Dal (S) on Sunday announced the candidature of Haider Ali Khan from Suar assembly seat in Rampur, the pocket borough of the Samajwadi Party (SP) heavy weight and jailed MP Azam Khan.
This is the first time that the BJP ally has fielded a Muslim candidate since 2014 when the saffron party rose like a political behemoth.
Haider is the son of Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, Azam's known detractor in Rampur.
Kazim had contested the 2017 assembly elections from Suar assembly seat on a BSP ticket but lost to SP candidate and Azam's son Abdullah Azam by a margin of nearly 65,000 votes.
In fact, Kazim stood third behind BJP's Laxmi Saini who bagged 26% of the vote share.
But in December 2019, Abdullah lost his UP assembly membership on charges of discrepancies in his election affidavit.
In February 2020, he along with his father Azam and mother Tanzeen Fatima was sent to jail in connection with several criminal cases lodged against them.
