Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, lodged in Sitapur jail, has reportedly refused to meet Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajai Rai.
Congress and SP have been involved in a war of words after Akhilesh Yadav accused the Congress of betraying his party by failing to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, lodged in Sitapur jail, has reportedly refused to meet Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajai Rai.
The development comes amid the ongoing bickering between SP and Congress over Madhya Pradesh seat sharing.
Khan cited the limit on the number of visitors for his refusal to meet Ajai Rai, IE reported.
Khan, his wife Tanzeem Fatima, and his son Abdullah Azam were convicted last week by a court in Uttar Pradesh in a fake birth certificate case.
The trio were awarded a seven-year jail term and a fine of Rs 15,000. They are currently lodged in Sitapur Jail.
Rai left for Sitapur Thursday morning to meet the jailed Samajwadi Party leader calling it a “basic humanitarian gesture”, urging not to see his visit from a political perspective.
Earlier, reports said that jail authorities refused Rai's request to meet Azam Khan.
"It is basic humanity that we meet them when the entire family is jailed and in crisis today. Now it is unfortunate that we will be prevented from meeting each other. When someone is in pain, it is our duty to stand with them. When he was Minister and I was an MLA from BJP, whenever I went to him with any work, he never denied it.
He did all my work and also gave me respect," ANI report quoted Rai as having said.
"If this time is also seen from a political perspective, then it is not right. Humanity comes first," he added, the report added.
However, as per the IE report, Sitapur jail superintendent Suresh Kumar Singh said that inmates are allowed to have visitors twice within a 15-day period.
Singh said the SP leader has already availed of one visit during the current 15-day period and has expressed his desire to meet with his family members for the second visit, according to the report.
Ajay Rai's gesture didn't go down well with the Samajwadi Party, with party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioning the Congress' intent.
"Where was the Congress when Azam Khan was being targeted, the leaders of the Congress were in fact targeting Azam Khan," said Yadav on Wednesday.
The Congress and the SP have been involved in a war of words after Akhilesh Yadav accused the Congress of betraying his party by failing to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.