New political possibilities on U.P. horizon .Shivpal Yadav was outside jail to greet Azam

Warm welcome: Azam Khan being welcomed by supporters after his release from Sitapur Jail, in Rampur on Friday. PTI PTI 

Omar Rashid LUCKNOW

On Friday, as senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan was released from a jail in Sitapur after spending 27 months there, what stood out was that his former colleague and estranged uncle of party president Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, was present to greet him.

Mr. Akhilesh, who was in Lucknow attending a special session of the Assembly, welcomed Mr. Khan’s release with a tweet even as some second-line SP leaders were at the spot.

“Lies last only for moments, not centuries,” he tweeted in reference to the dozens of alleged false cases lodged against Mr. Khan by the State government.

Ever since loyalists of Mr. Khan came out in public to accuse Mr. Akhilesh of not doing enough to support the incarcerated leader from Rampur, Mr. Shivpal increased overtures and indicated he was interested in building a new political alliance with Mr. Khan.

Where Mr. Khan, an SP MLA like his son Abdullah Azam, truly stands politically after two years in jail would be revealed after he settles down in his west U.P. borough Rampur, but by driving from Lucknow to Sitapur to welcome the Muslim leader, Mr. Shivpal, who has distanced himself from his nephew, showed his intent and got tongues wagging once again about new political possibilities.

In one of the pictures shared by Mr. Shivpal on social media, Mr. Khan was seen with his hand placed on Mr. Shivpal’s chest in reciprocation of the Yadav leader’s friendly gesture. 

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