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Azmi replaces Azam as SP’s Muslim face

The Maharashtra state president of the SP Abu Asim Azmi seems to have finally replaced Mohd Azam Khan as the party’s Muslim poster boy.

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The Maharashtra state unit president of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Abu Asim Azmi seems to have finally replaced Mohd Azam Khan as the party’s Muslim poster boy. Worse, it happened in Rampur – the hometown of Mohd Azam Khan.

The backdrop of the SP’s election rally in Rampur on Monday said it all. Instead of Mohd Azam Khan being part of the trio along with party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and general secretary Amar Singh, it was Azmi’s face beaming from the posters.
Azmi, who is contesting on a SP ticket from a seat in Mumbai, belongs to Azamgarh district in east UP. He was not present at the rally.

The occasion was the filing of cine star Jaya Prada’s nomination as SP candidate in Rampur. Azam Khan did not attend the rally despite being in Rampur. He has been sulking for a long time now against the alleged dominance of party affairs by Amar Singh. He has also been opposing a party ticket to Jaya Prada and has gone public with his anger over Mulayam joining hands with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh.

Though Jaya Prada refrained from making any comments, Amar Singh used similes to drive the point home.

“When trees are laden with fruits, they tend to bend over. But this should not be mistaken as a sign of weakness,” he said. “People should not be jealous because the politics of hasad (jealousy) is haram according to Islam,” Amar Singh said, targeting the Muslims present at the rally. “I have been called dalal (broker), Jaya Prada has been called a ‘rakkasa’ (nautch girl). We have ignored it... but there’s a limit.”

Azam Khan has often alleged that Amar Singh had converted the SP into a “filmi party”. It was apparently in reply to this criticism that Amar Singh said: “Amitabh Bachchan is my elder brother, Aishwarya is my bahu, Jaya Bachchan came into politics on my insistence... they are family. Should I desert my family?”

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