Lucknow: A day after sharing the stage with Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav after a gap of 24 years, BSP supremo Mayawati will hold a joint rally with his son and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to garner support for the party’s Rampur candidate - Mohammad Azam Khan.
Khan was banned from campaigning for 72 hours by the Election Commission on Monday for a derogatory remark against BJP candidate Jaya Prada.
The SP and BSP chiefs, along with Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh, are expected to address the rally at Mahatma Gandhi Stadium in Rampur on Saturday.
The trio is also expected to hold another joint rally at Bantigarh Chauraha in Firozabad from where Mulayam’s nephew Akshay is contesting against the SP founder’s brother Shivpal Yadav, who had recently floated his own political outfit.
The Samajwadi Party had staunchly defended Azam Khan over the ‘underwear’ jibe targeting Jaya Prada that had caused a political firestorm.
“He was talking about someone else. We are Samajwadis, we never use foul language for women,” Akhilesh Yadav had said.
The comment came hours after UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath condemned Khan's remark and hit out at “two former CMs” (Akhilesh and Mayawati) over their silence on the leader's derogatory comment.
“The mean and indecent remark against Jaya Prada reflects the mean mindset and personality of Azam Khan,” the Uttar Pradesh chief minister had said in tweet.
Without naming the actor, who is fighting on a BJP ticket from Rampur, Azam Khan had told a gathering on Sunday, “… you got represented (by her) for 10 years. People of Rampur, people of Uttar Pradesh and people of India, it took you 17 years to understand her reality. But, I could recognize it in 17 days that she wears a khaki underwear”.
The National Commission for Women had also urged the Election Commission to take “strong action” against Khan for his statement.
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