Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, who is lodged in Sitapur jail, on October 26 allegedly refused to meet Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai, citing the limit on the number of visitors in the jail. Mr. Rai and two other district Congress leaders had planned to meet the SP leader. Khan has been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in a birth certificate forgery case.
“We stand by Azam sahab. The government is doing injustice with him. The BJP government, prevented us from meeting him, the administration is fabricating by saying that he refused to meet us,” said Mr. Rai, outside the jail.
Amid the ongoing tussle between the two key Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc partners – the Congress and the SP – over the seat-sharing talks for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the jail visit was criticised by the SP. Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the Congress was involved in framing charges on Khan. “Everyone should meet Azam sahab. Where were the Congress leaders when Azam saheb was being framed? Even Congress leaders were busy framing him,” said Mr. Yadav to mediapersons on Wednesday evening.
