Lucknow, November 03: In an apparent move to please its expelled leader Azam Khan, Samajwadi Party today issued notices to two of its MLAs who had reportedly made remarks against him at a meeting of the party’s legislators here.
Notices have been issued to party’s Meerut MLA Shahid Manzoor and Sambhal legislator Iqbal Mahmood by SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav following a report appearing in a section of the media saying that they issued remarks against Azam Khan at the meeting, SP sources said.
The duo have been given a week’s time to respond to the notices failing which disciplinary action would be taken against them, they said.
“When the party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has already gone on record stating that he was ready to go all the way to Rampur, Khan’s hometown, to bring him back to the party, there should have been no expression of dissent in public against him, sources said.
Azam Khan, formerly a general secretary of the party, was considered a close aide of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav since his struggle days.
This is for the first time that the party has acted against its MLAs for their remarks against Khan.
The MLAs who have been issued notices had reportedly raised the issue of Azam Khan’s return to the party yesterday with party leaders Shivpal Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav.
Azam Khan, considered a prominent Muslim face of the party, was expelled after he vented his grievances against the leadership for Amar Singh’s rising importance within the party and its growing proximity with former Hindutva icon Kalyan Singh.