Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday met senior party leader Azam Khan in the Rampur district jail in Uttar Pradesh, in a visit that drew a sharp political reaction ahead of the 2027 state assembly elections, PTI reported.

Source: PTI via Dailyworld

Yadav, who arrived in Rampur by helicopter earlier in the day, met Khan for about an hour. Speaking to reporters afterwards, he said the two had held a lengthy conversation on all 403 assembly seats and on suggestions received from the party's alliance partners. He said Khan had not sought any assembly seat for himself but had offered suggestions, which were noted. Asked who the SP would field from Rampur, Yadav declined to say, asking, "Why should we reveal that now?"

"No political family has faced as much injustice as Azam Khan's family," Yadav said, accusing the BJP government of pursuing a political vendetta and alleging that false cases had been lodged against Khan. "False cases do not have the strength to keep the truth imprisoned. It may take time, there may be some delay, but the truth cannot be held captive in false cases," he said.

In separate remarks reported by IANS, Yadav asserted that Khan "was, is, and will remain" a vital figure in the Samajwadi Party, and accused the BJP of targeting Khan's Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, saying no government had inflicted such damage on an educational institution, ANI reported via DevDiscourse.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse

Khan was convicted along with his son Abdullah Azam Khan by a Rampur court last year in dual and fraudulent PAN card cases related to mismatched dates of birth and sentenced to seven years in prison, PTI reported.

The BJP reacted strongly. Its national general secretary Vinod Tawde claimed — as the BJP's allegation — that the SP plans to make Khan, whom he accused of promoting lawlessness, the state's home minister if it comes to power, and said the visit exposed the SP's priorities ahead of the elections. Before the meeting, Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar had called the planned visit an election gimmick aimed at securing Muslim votes, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Indian Economic Observer

SP leader Fakhrul Hasan Chand had told ANI before the visit that Yadav was going to Rampur after Khan's wife, Tanzeen Fatima, informed him that Khan's health was not good, and that Yadav would also meet Khan's family at their residence. Yadav had earlier visited Khan in Sitapur jail in March 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.