New Delhi: A day after BSP chief Mayawati denied meeting “any senior leader” of a party, Samajwadi Party veteran Azam Khan on Friday sent out feelers to the four-time chief minister by calling her a leader of a big group and also recounted his association with the BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
While the BSP chief ruled out any meeting with any leader in her mega comeback rally on Thursday, Khan’s statements are being viewed as tactics to pressurise the top leadership of the SP by praising Mayawati who leads the party’s chief rival BSP.
Although media reports were rife with speculation that Khan’s wife Tazeen Fatma had met the BSP chief in New Delhi and that Khan- once the sole Muslim face of the SP – may join the BSP, Mayawati on Thursday attempted to dispel such rumours by stating that just before her rally, such rumours were deliberately spread that she had met someone from the family of a senior SP leader.
“Even I don’t know that I have met someone. I don’t meet people secretly, I meet them openly,” she had said.
‘Leader of a big public group’
However, Khan on Friday praised Mayawati by calling her a leader of a big public group.
Speaking to ANI, Khan expressed sadness over Mayawati’s comments.
“I would express a little sadness because I don’t know what news reached her because not only me, but the entire country respects her a lot. She deserves it and whether she remained the chief minister or not, it doesn’t matter but she is a leader of a big public group. I respect her and if she has got some news via media which has hurt her, I am sorry for that.
At my heart, I believe there is no lack of her importance. And, I expect in future too…since she is a big politician and I am a small worker and also because when she came to Rampur, she was my guest and she would have felt that my association with her has always been one of respect. My association has actually been a lot with Kanshi Ram and no one knows this that he would arrive to meet me at 4 am because he knew that I offer the fazl ki namaaz (early morning namaaz) and we would talk for about half an hour that time,” he said.
He further said that he had been associated with Mayawati’s elders too so he cannot say anything that can cause sadness to her.
“Even if I have to meet (Mayawati), and one does not always meet for political purposes but it can also be for personal needs or moral or social needs, we can meet for that. I would thank her that she did not say that could have caused pain to my heart,” he said.
What is surprising is that Khan’s comments came two days after the SP chief Azam Khan met him at his Rampur residence without the presence of any third person as Khan had insisted.
Upon Khan’s insistence, Yadav met him alone and current Rampur MP Mohibullah Nadvi who was to travel to Rampur with Yadav was asked to leave Yadav’s company at Bareilly itself.
Khan does not see eye to eye with Nadvi and has targeted him several times after his release from jail. He had also famously refused to acknowledge Nadvi by saying that he did not know him (Nadvi).
Nadvi was asked why he had to drop his plans to travel to Rampur when he told mediapersons that when people try to project goodness as weakness, it becomes a problem.
“Nobody can stop me from coming to Rampur,” he said
When asked about Khan’s allegation that his wife kept weeping along on Eid and nobody turned up (while he was in jail), Nadvi said that he had sent sweets to her and also asked her if he could meet her but she had said that she would respond after asking her husband but that Nadvi received no response after that.
“We had been praying for his release from jail but it is sad that he started targeting his own MP after release,” he said.
Speaking to TDG, Faisal Lala, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader from Rampur said that by praising Mayawati and invoking his association with Kanshi Ram, Azam does not appreciate the fact that someone who was not his choice had become MP from Rampur while he was in jail and hence keeps targeting Nadvi.
“It’s a turf war. When Khan was in jail, Nadvi became the MP of Rampur which has been Khan’s turf for decades but now, he sees a challenge to his legacy. It is for this reason that he keeps targeting Nadvi and didn’t want him to be with Akhilesh when the latter came to Khan at Rampur. But since Nadvi has decided to hit back at Khan, he seems to be pressurising the SP chief by praising Mayawati and invoking Kanshi Ram to send a message to the SP top leadership,” he said.
Lala remembered that in the past too, Khan has resorted to such tactics to pressurise the SP leadership but the scenario has changed now.
“It is difficult for Khan to digest that his days of undisputed leadership in Rampur may be over but he wants to pressurize the SP to ensure he gets what he wants, whether it is about meeting his political demands or anything else,” Lala said.
‘An elder of the party’
Meanwhile, speaking to TDG, Nadvi said that Khan was at an age where people tend to make such statements but he would not like to comment since he was “an elder of the party.”
A senior SP leader however told TDG that Khan’s comments and their timing have been noted and that since he has made the comments despite Akhilesh Yadav meeting him for two hours at the residence on Wednesday, his statement has not been viewed in positive light.
While Nadvi was never Khan’s choice for the Rampur Lok Sabha, Khan had asked Akhilesh to fight from Rampur in the 2024 general election.
“Akhilesh had to fight from Kannauj and it was fixed but Khan had pressured him to fight from Rampur instead. This was a very clever tactic because Khan knew that he could take back the Rampur turf from Akhilesh anytime but the SP leadership gave the Rampur ticket to Nadvi. Khan has been harbouring this insecurity within him since then and is unable to accept the current situation,” the leader said.
Meanwhile, with Khan and Nadvi exchanging barbs at each other, the turf war for Rampur is not likely to see any end in near future.
Sofia Babu Chacko is a journalist with over five years of experience covering Indian politics, crime, human rights, gender issues, and stories about marginalized communities. She believes that every voice matters, and journalism has a vital role to play in amplifying those voices. Sofia is committed to creating impact and shedding light on stories that truly matter. Beyond her work in the newsroom, she is also a music enthusiast who enjoys singing.
