Amar’s ‘brother’ Azam Khan quits SP post

“Azam Khan has been like an elder brother to me and he will continue to remain like that for me,” SP general secretary Amar Singh told reporters after the meeting without giving any more details about the party’s decision on Azam Khan. In the run-up to the polls in Rampur,he had publicly taken on Azam.

A six-time UP MLA and one-time Rajya Sabha MP,Azam is one of the founders of the party along with party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Azam had taken strong objection to the party re-nominating the sitting Rampur MP,Jaya Prada,during elections,and raised the banner of revolt against her under the garb of his protest against the party’s tie-up with former chief minister and BJP leader Kalyan Singh,whom he held as the main culprit for the Babri demolition.

Azam’s revolt against the party affected its electoral prospects indirectly,if not substantially,in areas neighbouring Rampur like Sambhal,Amroha,Moradabad,Saharanpur,Kheri and Badaun.

While Azam remains an SP member,his next political move will depend a lot on the new political reality of the state where the Congress has made a stunning comeback. While Mulayam holds him in high esteem,he is unlikely to receive the same stature within the Congress,particularly after he failed to get the SP candidate defeated despite having thrown his weight behind the Congress nominee.

Though he had told his supporters,“I have received offers from several political parties” in the run-up to the elections,he is likely to be a misfit in the BSP where the authority of Mayawati reigns supreme. He may think of launching a new party championing the Muslim cause. But,if the election results are any indicator,the prospects of minority-centered political parties don’t appear bright. There were about half-a- dozen political parties championing the Muslim cause that took part in these elections in the state,but none of them managed to get even a single seat.

Azam,however,could still be an asset for the SP,particularly after the Congress comeback on a substantial minority support,which parted company with the SP after the Mulayam-Kalyan pact. Because he still remains the tallest Muslim face of the SP,the party may choose to ignore his defiance in the elections to counter the Congress’s inroads into the minority support base.