CM meets Azam to assuage hurt feelings
A day after some senior Samajwadi Party leaders demanded resignation of minister for parliamentary affairs Mohamamd Azam Khan, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday went to meet his ministerial colleague to assuage hurt feelings and remove any misgivings.
“What happened, why did you not come,” chief minister is said to have asked Khan soon after reaching the latter’s Vikramaditaya marg residence here at about 3.36 pm on Friday.
Khan had skipped the Samajwadi Party’s national executive committee meeting that
AS KHAN IS THE MINISTER INCHARGE FOR MUZAFFARNAGAR, HE HAD EXPRESSED HIS SERIOUS CONCERN ABOUT THE ADMN’S FAILURE TO CONTROL RIOTS IN MUZAFFARNAGAR.
concluded in Agra on Thursday.
Khan and Akhilesh remained closeted for more than one and a half hours. A smiling Khan later saw the CM off. The chief minister preferred to only waive at the media persons who had been waiting near Khan's residence.
Although no official word came, both the leaders are said to have discussed a variety of issues, including Khan’s absence also from state cabinet meetings.
As Khan is the minister incharge for Muzaffarnagar, he had expressed his serious concern about the administration’s failure to control riots in Muzaffarnagar. “Jo shuru main hua so hua, jo baad main hua woh nahin hona chahiye tha (Whatever happened initially could not have been checked, but what took place later should not have happened at all,” Khan is said to have told the chief minister in an obvious reference to incidents of violence in Muzaffarnagar.
Khan remained unavailable for comments on the issue. Khan left for Rampur soon after the meeting.
In interactions with people close to him, Khan had hinted that he was upset over the allegations that he was trying to hijack the party. Khan had been quoted saying that he distanced himself from the chief minister to counter these allegations.
A close associate of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior minister of Akhilesh Yadav government, Khan is now known for throwing tantrums at the slightest pretext if things do not move his way in the government or in his home district Rampur.
His observations against a senior IAS officer calling him communal, objections to the style of functioning of certain officers and other such issues have often remained a point of discussion in the corridors of power here.
As the session of the state legislature begins here Monday, Khan’s observations may provide enough ammunition to the Opposition against the Akhilesh Yadav government. How will Khan defend the Akhilesh Yadav government, as minister for parliamentary affairs is the million-dollar question.