Azam Khan Refuses Jail Visit by UP Congress Chief Ajai Rai, Citing Visitor Limit

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have been embroiled in a heated dispute over the failure to reach a seat-sharing agreement in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. Senior SP leader Azam Khan, who is currently incarcerated in Sitapur jail, reportedly declined to meet with Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajai Rai amid the ongoing tensions between the two opposition parties in the INDIA bloc. Azam Khan’s reason for refusing the meeting was attributed to visitor limits, as reported by The Indian Express, quoting jail officials.

Azam Khan, along with his wife Tanzeem Fatima and son Abdullah Azam, was recently convicted in a fake birth certificate case by a Uttar Pradesh court. They were sentenced to seven years in jail and fined ₹15,000 each. Currently, all three are detained in Sitapur Jail.

Ajai Rai embarked on a trip to Sitapur on a Thursday morning to meet the incarcerated Samajwadi Party leader, emphasizing that it was a “basic humanitarian gesture” and urged people not to view his visit through a political lens. Initially, there were media reports suggesting that jail authorities had denied Rai’s request to meet Azam Khan.

Rai stressed the importance of humanity in such situations, saying, “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.”

However, according to the Express report, Sitapur jail superintendent Suresh Kumar Singh clarified that inmates are permitted to have visitors twice within a 15-day period. Singh stated that the SP leader had already utilized one visit during the current 15-day period and wished to reserve the second visit for his family members.

Ajay Rai’s goodwill gesture didn’t sit well with the Samajwadi Party, as party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the Congress’s intentions, asking, “Where was the Congress when Azam Khan was being targeted? The leaders of the Congress were, in fact, targeting Azam Khan.” This dispute further fueled tensions between the Congress and the SP, with Akhilesh Yadav accusing the Congress of betraying his party by failing to reach a seat-sharing agreement in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.