'Akhilesh doesn't want Azam out of jail': In-prison leader's media in-charge fuels SP rift

Amid the possibility of Shivpal Yadav jumping ship to BJP, Samajwadi Party faced another blow as Azam Khan's media in-charge Fasahat Ali Khan Sanu levelled serious allegations against Akhilesh Yadav.

He endorsed UP CM Yogi Adityanath's charge during the election campaign that Yadav doesn't want Azam Khan to be released from prison as it would pose a threat to his position as the SP president. Moreover, he lamented that the SP chief had visited Khan in jail just once. A 10-time MLA from Rampur, Azam Khan has been in jail since February 2020 in connection with a number of cases. 

Maintaining that SP secured 111 seats in the recently concluded Assembly election because of Azam Khan, his media in-charge said, "This is not my angst, but the angst of crores of weak people, i.e Muslims. We cast our vote, roll out the red carpet, go to jail, get sentenced and you become the Leader of Opposition! We made you and your father the CM 4 times. But you can't make Azam Khan the Leader of Opposition? I expressed this angst."

He rued, "Akhilesh Yadav hesitates in taking our name. He does not take our name. Akhilesh Yadav had just given his first speech in the Legislative Assembly and he mentioned many MLAs. He also mentioned 8-time MLA Satish Mahana who became the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He should have done so but Azam Khan is a 10-time MLA. Couldn't he have mentioned him? Couldn't he have mentioned that our leader Azam Khan is locked up in jail"?

Azam Khan is yet to get bail in only one case pertaining to illegally acquiring property and merging it with Jauhar University. 

BJP sweeps UP election

The UP Assembly elections were held in 7 phases - February 10, February 14, February 20, February 23, February 27, March 3 and March 7, whereas the counting of votes took place on March 10. Though Akhilesh Yadav ran a spirited campaign travelling the length and breadth of the state, he failed to dislodge the BJP government from UP.

This came even as SP's vote share increased from 21.82% to 32.06%, which is higher than its 2012 vote share when it formed the government in the state by winning 224 seats.

While the SP improved its tally to 111 from 47 seats that it won last time, its allies RLD and SBSP gained 8 and 6 seats each. Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath broke a 37-year-old jinx by securing a second term as the CM in UP. After a rise in its vote share from 39.67% to 41.29%, BJP bagged 255 seats. With Apna Dal (S) and NISHAD party winning 12 and 6 seats each, the BJP-led alliance has 273 seats in the 403-member Assembly.