Samajwadi Party legislator from Rampur, Mohammad Azam Khan along with his MLA son Abdullah Azam took oath as members of Uttar Pradesh assembly on Monday.
Speaker Satish Mahana administered the oath to both in his chamber just before the start of the budget session.
The speaker gifted Khan a copy of the Constitution and rule book, 'UP Assembly Rules of Business for the Conduct of the Proceedings of Vidhan Sabha'.
Soon after taking oath, Azam Khan left the Vidhan Bhawan and did not attend the first day of the budget session. His son Abdullah, however, attended the session.
Khan, who won the 2022 assembly poll while in Sitapur district jail on different criminal charges, was recently released on bail after spending 27 months in jail. His son Abdullah Azam has been elected from the Suar assembly seat in Rampur.
A source close to Azam Khan said that the senior leader had decided to come for the oath “on the advice of his well-wishers”.
He had left from Rampur early Monday morning to reach Lucknow. He had earlier decided to stay away on health grounds.
Though Khan did not respond to queries from media persons, when asked if he had spoken to Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav after his release from jail, he remarked, “No. Maybe he (Mulayam) does not have my phone number."
On Sunday, Khan had said, "I am not upset and there is no resentment with the party leadership. I am a poor person without any base and do not have any reason for being upset."
Khan, who held immense sway in Samajwadi Party during the SP regime, was released from the Sitapur jail on Friday after spending 27 months in judicial custody in 88 cases.
Asked if he would end his continuing resentment, Khan told reporters, "I am getting this information about resentment only from you. I don't understand any reason."
Earlier, Khan and his MLA son Abdullah had skipped the Samajwadi Party legislators' meet on Sunday.
"The Vidhan Sabha is not a new place for me. I will be entering it for the 10th time," Khan had said.
Earlier, amid complaints from Khan's camp that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had been ignoring him and the Muslim community though it backed the SP in UP assembly polls, Khan had refused to meet SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra when the latter called on him in Sitapur district jail on April 24. However, a day later, on April 25, he had met Congress leader and spiritual guru Pramod Krishnam.
On Sunday, Azam Khan and sulking Socialist leader Shivpal Singh Yadav had skipped the SP MLAs' meeting ahead of the UP assembly session.