Akhilesh Yadav Leaves for Rampur to Lend Support to Azam Khan Facing Volley of Cases

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday left for Rampur to lend support to party leader Azam Khan against whom several cases have been filed by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Khan, the Lok Sabha MP from Rampur, is facing several police cases, including related to grabbing of land. Authorities have claimed the gate of his Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, established by Khan in 2006, is built on a government land.

"Our party leader MP Azam Khan is been targeted by the government. Over 80 cases have been lodged against him within a month. These cases include goat and buffalo theft," Akhilesh Yadav said while talking to reporters in Sitapur, about 80 kms from here.

"All these are baseless charges.... Rampur district administration and police are working on the directives of the state government but the people are with Azam Khan," he added.

"His (Azam's) only fault was that he wanted to secure the future of the next generation by setting up a university," he added.

Khan has linked the action against him in the university cases to upcoming assembly bypolls in the state.

On the steep fines under the motor vehicles act, Akhilesh Yadav advised the state government to follow Gujarat, where the fines have been reduced by the state government.

On the Unnao rape case involving expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the victim and her family members were "being pressurised by the Unnao administration" but refused to elaborate.

When asked about lodging of FIRs against journalists in Mirzapur, Azamgarh and other parts of the state, the SP chief said, "Journalists who dare to tell the truth are being booked by this government, which is afraid of reality."

After Sitapur, Akhilesh Yadav left for Lakhimpur from where he will reach Bareilly, to meet the aggrieved family members of former MLA Siyaram Sagar, who died recently.

He will reach Rampur late in the evening and after addressing a workers meeting, spend the night at Azam Khan's resort. Akhilesh Yadav will return to Lucknow on September 15.