Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will meet senior party leader Azam Khan in Rampur on October 8. He will arrive in Bareilly by private plane before continuing to Rampur by road. This long-awaited meeting has drawn significant attention within the party.
According to sources, Akhilesh Yadav plans to meet Azam Khan between 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM. Several senior leaders from western Uttar Pradesh, including SP MP Mohibullah Nadvi and former MP S. T. Hasan, will accompany him. After the meeting, Akhilesh will briefly stop in Bareilly and return to Lucknow later the same day.
This visit comes amid growing discontent within SP circles. Azam Khan, a founding member of the party and a key Muslim face in Uttar Pradesh politics, spent nearly five years in jail in two separate stints. During this time, Akhilesh Yadav never visited him, which led to speculation about a rift between the two leaders.
Some SP workers and senior leaders have openly questioned the delay. They ask why Akhilesh Yadav waited so long to meet Azam Khan, especially after the latter faced a barrage of legal cases. Many believe the party did not do enough to stand by Azam during his legal battles.
Akhilesh has recently promised that all “false” cases against Azam Khan will be withdrawn if the Samajwadi Party comes back to power. His October 8 visit is widely seen as a gesture to mend fences and rebuild trust with a senior party stalwart.
This move also comes just a day before a major political rally by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Lucknow, which makes the timing politically significant.
