In a letter issued from Sitapur jail, Azam Khan announced to boycott the Lok Sabha election in Rampur. However, he said party president Akhilesh Yadav would take the final call.
“I have been associated with the electoral politics of the district for the last five decades. It was never about winning the election, but about the uplift of the people and their empowerment. Today, I am punished for serving the cause of the people and my family and I are in jail,” Azam said, adding: “The police atrocities are also well known as a large number of people were framed in fake cases during the bypoll to Rampur Lok Sabha seat in June 2022 and later during the bypoll to Rampur assembly seat.”
“Under these circumstances, I have requested Akhilesh Yadav to contest from Rampur Lok Sabha seat. However, winning Kannauj, Azamgarh, Budaun, Mainpuri. Firozabad, and Etah is also important for the Samajwadi Party. The Rampur seat comes after these seats. I hereby announce to boycott the election to the Rampur Lok Sabha seat,” Azam said.
Earlier, Akhilesh met Azam Khan in Sitapur district jail on March 24.
Azam won the Lok Sabha election from Rampur in 2019 but vacated this seat to contest the state assembly election from Rampur in 2022. In the bypoll to Rampur Lok Sabha seat in June 2022, Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi of the BJP wrested this seat from the Samajwadi Party. However, Azam could not keep his assembly seat as well because he was disqualified after being sentenced to three years in jail in a 2019 hate speech case. This seat was also won by the BJP.
It is now believed that Akhilesh Yadav is not going to nominate any candidate from Rampur without consulting Azam Khan and hence he went to jail for discussions.
However, Samajwadi Party sources said that Azam Khan requested Yadav to contest from Rampur. Yadav has not agreed to it yet but if this happens, he will be contesting on two seats — Kannauj and Rampur. Reportedly, Yadav also discussed other potential candidates with Khan. Outside the jail, he told reporters that injustice was being meted out to Azam Khan and his family through false cases.
Akhilesh Yadav debuted in politics in 1999 when he contested and won the by-election to Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. He again contested the 2004 Lok Sabha polls from Kannauj and won.
In 2009, Akhilesh Yadav contested from Kannauj and Firozabad Lok Sabha seats. He vacated the Firozabad seat. The Samajwadi Party fielded his wife Dimple Yadav. She was defeated by Raj Babbar of the Congress in the bypoll. She, however, won the Lok Sabha election from Kannauj in 2014. Presently, she is the MP from Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat.
