UP assembly: Azam Khan skips session for second consecutive day

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan skipped Uttar Pradesh assembly proceedings for the second day in a row on Tuesday amid speculation of a rift between him and party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Khan, who had taken oath in Speaker Satish Mahan's chamber on Monday, had not attended the proceedings of the house and had left after being sworn in as a member of the house even then.

He later clarified that he could not attend the house proceedings as he was not keeping well.

Khan was recently released on bail from Sitapur Jail where he was lodged on various charges, including that of land grabbing. Earlier, Abdullah Azam, an MLA, had deflected a media query about his father’s absence from the house. ''I am getting delayed for the assembly. You can ask him (Azam) when he comes out,'' Abdullah Azam, who had taken an oath with his father on Monday, had said.

On Tuesday, Azam Khan told reporters: ''You have seen I am having difficulty standing. I am not feeling well. I have been elected and I will certainly attend the House.'' On being asked about his meeting with Shivpal Yadav, he said, ''I have met him several times in the past and will meet many times in future too. Not only him, but I have also met everyone.'' ''All my life, I have drawn a line and have never seen towards other 'kashti' (boat), let alone riding in it. But I feel there should be no hesitation in having tea breakfast with others. “When everyone is breaking bread together, why should not I do that? If it is the right of other parties’ leaders to attend marriages and meet on other occasions, then I am also not any different,'' he said.

When asked whether he will ride in some other boat, Khan, carrying on in a cryptic manner, said, ''Let some eligible boat come to me. So far, my 'jazz' (ship) has been enough.'' According to some party sources, Khan has been angling to send his lawyer, Kapil Sibal, to the Rajya Sabha on an SP ticket.

When asked about it, he said, ''It is his right. Whichever party sends him there, it will be an honor for that party too. I will be the happiest if he is sent.'' Asked whether he will be less displeased with the party if it sends Sibal to RS, Khan said he was too weak to be displeased with anyone. ''I am not in a position to be in displeasure with anyone. I am an ill and weak person.'' When asked whether SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav contacted him in the past two days since he was in Lucknow, Khan said, ''I cannot comment on such a big personality.'' Khan had on Monday evening met Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) founder Shivpal Yadav at his residence and discussed various issues.

PSPL spokesperson Deepak Mishra confirmed the meeting to PTI. He, however, did not divulge details of the meeting.

There has been no official confirmation on Sibal’s nomination for RS either by Khan or by any SP leader.

Akhilesh Yadav's party which had won 111 seats in the recent state polls can send three members to the RS after 11 of its seats fall vacant from the state by July end.

The process of elections for the RS seats began on Tuesday.

Sibal, who is representing Khan in the Supreme Court, was elected to the RS on a Congress ticket from Uttar Pradesh with the help of SP in 2016.

Since the Congress, which had fought the latest state election on its own, could manage to win only two seats, it has no chance to send him or any other leader of the party to the upper house of Parliament.

This was the second meeting between Khan and socialist leader Shivpal Yadav in recent days. Yadav had earlier visited him in Sitapur Jail in March end and had called out SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, as well as Akhilesh Yadav, for not agitating for his release.

The absence of Khan -- the 10th term MLA from Rampur Sadar seat -- from the ongoing assembly session is generating a lot of speculation about his displeasure with the party president.

Khan has been allocated a seat in the assembly next to Akhilesh Yadav.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)