Rampur: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met senior party leader Azam Khan in Rampur on Wednesday, marking their first meeting since Khan’s release from jail last month. The two leaders held a two-hour closed-door discussion at Khan’s residence, without the presence of any family members.
Akhilesh, who arrived in Rampur by helicopter after landing at Bareilly Airport from Lucknow, was received personally by Azam Khan. Both leaders then travelled together in the same car to Khan’s residence.
After the meeting, Akhilesh told reporters, “Azam Khan sahab is a very senior leader. His shadow has always been with us. He is the tree of our party. The BJP wants to set a world record by filing cases against the Azam family. This is a big fight, and we will face it together.”
The meeting came amid speculation of strain between the two leaders after Akhilesh did not visit Khan upon his release from Sitapur jail on September 23. At that time, Khan had remarked, “We are not big leaders. If we were, a big leader would have come to receive us. Big people come to receive big people.”
Notably, Akhilesh chose not to bring Rampur MP Mohibullah Nadvi along to the meeting, reportedly due to Khan’s disapproval. On Tuesday, Khan had said, “I will only meet Akhilesh. I don’t know the MP from Rampur. I have never met him.”
When asked about Nadvi being left behind in Bareilly, Khan said, “There is nothing about helicopters or hearts here. The administration did not permit anyone else to attend the meeting. It is not my fault. If it were another programme, I would have welcomed him. He is a big imam — so big that he became an MP even without people in Rampur knowing him.”
Explaining the absence of his family, Khan said, “My wife is away for treatment, and my son is busy with court cases. Everything has scattered, piece by piece. If there were grievances, there would have been complaints — but nothing remains now.”
Akhilesh later shared a photo of their meeting on X, writing, “What can one say about a meeting where emotions spoke in silence?”
Political observers see the meeting as a crucial step toward mending relations between the two leaders and restoring unity within the Samajwadi Party’s traditional base in western Uttar Pradesh.
Political analyst Rajendra Kumar said, “This meeting is as much about optics as it is about strategy. Akhilesh needs Azam’s moral authority and connect with the Muslim electorate to strengthen his party’s core base, especially when the BJP is aggressively expanding in western Uttar Pradesh.”
