Mr Mohammed Azam Khan on Saturday made a grand comeback into the Samajwadi Party with a couplet, “Kabhi khushi se khushi ki taraf nahin dekha/tumhare baad kisi ki taraf nahin dekha” and won a thunderous applause.
To welcome the expelled leader back into the party fold, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Leader of the Opposition, announced that was resigning from his post to make way for Mr Azam Khan.
An hour later, Mr Khan politely turned down the proposal and said that if he accepted the post, the message would be that he was keen to get a position on his comeback. He said his comeback was unconditional.
“This is my home and I have come back. I will work to strengthen the Samajwadi Party and enable it to form the next government,” he said at a party meeting at the SP headquarters.
In an obvious reference to expelled SP MP Amar Singh, Mr Azam Khan said that it was unfortunate that the person who had spent 14 years in the party was now spitting venom on it.
“Nikale hum bhi gaye, nikale tum bhi gaye/Par ab hum kahan khade hain aur tum kahan pade ho,” he said in his inimitable style.
He also applauded Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav for being a true friend of Muslims and said that he was the only leader in the country who had dared to speak out against the Ayodhya verdict.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav welcomed Mr Khan with open arms and said the latter’s absence from the party in the last Lok Sabha polls was sorely missed by the party.
Mr Yadav admitted that the party had lost several seats in the last Lok Sabha elections due to the “indifferent attitude” of Mr Azam Khan.
“We will now regain lost ground under his leadership. He is a member of my family and I have no ill-feelings towards him. There were some hurdles due to which he had to be removed from the party but now everything has been set right,” he said.
Mr Yadav expressed concern over growing factionalism in the party and warned that there was no room for such activities now. He apprehended that the Mayawati government may opt for early elections and asked party workers to work towards forming the next Samajwadi Party government in UP. The SP president said that the main contest would be between SP and BSP in the next elections since the Congress had virtually been wiped out of north India and the BJP was also at its lowest ebb.