Samajwadi leader Azam Khan lashes out at Imam Bukhari for seeking election ticket for kin

Rampur (Uttar Pradesh), Apr.7 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan on Saturday lashed out at the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid and Muslim community leader Syed Imam Bukhari for seeking a Rajya Sabha ticket for his relatives in Uttar Pradesh.

"If all the problems could have been solved by giving the Rajya Sabha seat to his (Bukhari's) brother and a red light vehicle to his son-in-law (Umar Khan), then may be it would have been good. However, I feel, that the reason might be something else, as it was the largest Muslim seat in Uttar Pradesh, and there were 80 percent Muslim voters. He was the sole Muslim candidate and he could not win and even lost his deposit. He should feel ashamed as to what kind of image he has formed among the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh. I think he should win a council in the Jama Masjid area of Delhi and serve the people there. Delhi also has many Muslims and he should serve there," he said.

Bukhari has demanded a Rajya Sabha seat for his brother Yahya, but the same was rejected by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Khan also added that such acts by the titular head of a religious institution undermines the Muslim community.

"It is very embarrassing to know from others that religious and titular heads who are sitting on such high posts make a fuss over such minor matters. In the case of his brother and son-in-law, he has made a frivolous statement. We are disappointed and ashamed as well," Khan said.

Khan said that Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are unlikely to win elections in the upcoming parliamentary polls from their respective constituencies.

"The Congress has been rooted from Sultanpur, Raebareilly and Amethi. It is believed that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi cannot win the upcoming parliamentary elections from these constituencies. Now it is their party and their power, so they can vent it out on anybody they like," he said.

Rahul Gandhi had held a review meeting with the party's legislators from the state to analyse the cause of party's dismal performance in the recently concluded elections.

The party's flop show in Uttar Pradesh has reduced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scope to re-launch reforms and reverse a slowdown in economic growth.

The humiliating defeat in Uttar Pradesh - and in two of the other four other states that went to the polls - further weaken the struggling coalition government led by Congress as the country heads toward general elections due in two years.

The trouncing has triggered speculation in New Delhi that Congress will be forced into early elections but, with peculiar logic, opposition parties may prefer to bide their time. (ANI)