Mulayam says all is well, tries to reach out to Azam

 Talking to newspersons on the last day of the two-day national executive meet on Thursday, he said, ‘Both of us cannot be angry with each other. We are old associates of struggle days and know each other very well.’ Yadav’s comments are in contrast to the comments made by party senior leader Ramgopal Yadav who sought Khan’s resignation for being absent from the meet.

Yadav also dismissed allegations that the senior leadership of the party was against the conduct of Azam Khan specially in the view of his unexplained absence from the important party meet. 

‘Everyone has a right to speak on the party forum and this should not be taken as personal criticism,’ he said. The statement of Mulayam Singh Yadav came only a few hours after SP’s general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said Azam Khan could leave the post if he was not comfortable in the party. 

Naresh Agarwal, another general secretary of the party, had also echoed the same sentiments and said the senior UP minister was free to leave.

‘The views expressed on the party forum sometimes include criticism as well and nothing much should be read into it,’ the former UP chief minister and SP chief said. It may be recalled that the SP national executive meet was dominated by the absence of Azam Khan who not only skipped the meet but did not spell out the reason behind it.