New alignments in UP politics as Jayant meets Azam's family

Lucknow, April 20

With the Assembly elections over, new political realignments have started taking place in Uttar Pradesh.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) President Jayant Chaudhary, on Wednesday, made a surprise visit to Rampur to meet the family of Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan, who is presently lodged in jail.

Jayant met Azam Khan's wife and former MLA Tanzeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam Khan, who is MLA from Suar Assembly seat.

Jayant's meeting assumes significance in view of the fact that a number of Muslim leaders from the Samajwadi Party have come out against the party president Akhilesh Yadav's refusal to take a stand on Muslim leaders being targeted by the BJP government.

Akhilesh is facing flak for not supporting Azam Khan, who has been targeted by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Interestingly, there has not been much interaction between Jayant and Akhilesh after the elections and sources claim that the RLD president is probing new possibilities for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Jayant held a meeting with Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar and the two are said to have discussed an alliance for the next elections. The two also discussed factors that led to their respective parties under performance in the recent Assembly elections.

Jayant and Chandra Shekhar also travelled together to Rajasthan to meet family of Jitendra Meghwal, who was murdered in Pali.

Chandra Shekhar has already ruled out any truck with Akhilesh saying that he wants Dalit votes but does not want to address their issues.