Lucknow: The unrest in the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has taken a new turn with senior leader and party’s Muslim face Azam Khan accusing the state bureaucracy of "deliberately humiliating" him before the Supreme Court.
The apex court had frowned upon the UP Urban Development Minister earlier this week after his lawyer did not turn up to explain Khan's alleged statement terming the brutal Bulandshahr rape a "political conspiracy".
In a hard-hitting missive to the chief secretary, Azam Khan said the inaction in this case by the law department shows he is not considered part of the state government.
Seeking to know if the passive attitude of the state bureaucracy should be seen as a "political conspiracy" against him, the senior minister also clarified his position on the Bulandshahr rape case.
“I want to reiterate here that all that I said on the Bulandshahr rape case was never intended to hurt the feelings of the victim’s family. As a senior minister of the government, I wanted to send a message to the bureaucracy that all aspects of the case be thoroughly investigated so that such sad and dastardly acts do not recur,” Khan wrote to the new chief secretary, Rahul Bhatnagar.
He also asked the government not to field its legal officers to defend him in the case. He would now be represented by senior SC counsel and Congress MP Kapil Sibal instead.
Bhatnagar was handpicked to the top job earlier this month after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav sacked Deepak Singhal, who was seen to be close to senior minister Shivpal Yadav and party MP Amar Singh.
Singhal’s sacking had triggered an open war within the Yadav clan, with Shivpal resigning from the ministry and as state party president.
As the power struggle within SP’s first family played out in full media glare, Azam Khan, a close aide of Mulayam Singh and a founding member of the party, maintained a low profile despite having clear reservations about Amar Singh’s re-entry into the party and subsequent nomination to the Rajya Sabha.
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