Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav is likely to petition the BJP brass and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the case of party MP from Rampur, Mohammad Azam Khan.
Sources in the SP said that Mulayam Singh Yadav would complain to the Prime Minister against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for targeting the veteran Muslim leader.
The Rampur police have registered 81 cases against Khan over the last two months. These include land-grabbing, criminal intimidation, dacoity and theft of buffaloes and goats.
The SP patron had said last week that although he had not decided yet, but if needed, he would seek time from the Prime Minister.
A source in SP said Khan’s wife and Rajya Sabha member, Tazeen Fatma had met Mulayam earlier this week and questioned the silence of party leaders when the Yogi Adityanath government was harassing her husband without adequate evidence against him.
“Fatma had asked Mulayam what was the purpose of being in the SP when the party did not rally behind her family. At this, Mulayam assured her to meet Modi soon and ensure that Yogi was forced to withdraw the cases against Khan and his family members,” the source said.
Fatma and her son Abdullah Azam are co-accused in many cases.
On his part, Azam Khan has denied the charges of land-grabbing against him, claiming that he had collected donations from friends and paid compensation for the land acquired from local farmers to build Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur.
BJP state spokesperson Chandramohan however claimed that Khan was involved in land-grabbing and other crimes and the law would take its own course.