The Samajwadi Party camp is buzzing with talks of imminent re-entry of the expelled party leader Azam Khan, after the party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav offered public apology to the Muslims in the state. The SP is hopeful of
rediscovering support among the Muslim vote base, after having been rattled by the emergence of the Peace party, which has caught fancy of minority voters.
Mr Khan, who is a sworn enemy of expelled leader Amar Singh, had set a pre-condition of a public apology from Mr Yadav to consider request to join the party. The SP National Executive meeting held in Kolkata had asked the party leadership to bring back all senior leaders who had to leave the party due to Mr Amar Singh following which the party chief in UP Akhilesh Yadav along with senior leaders like Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav had opened a back-channel dialogue with Mr Khan.
“This apology is to facilitate the entry of Mr Khan back into the party. This will now happen soon,” said a senior party functionary.
A shot in the arm for Mr Yadav also came from another former SP leader, Shahid Siddiqui, who told this newspaper that “this apology will help”.
However, Mr Siddiqui added that the Muslims in UP had never sought an apology from Mr Yadav.
“The problem with the SP is that it has lost credibility among the Muslims and it will not be easy to restore it. The apology will help but ultimately Muslims will take calculated political decision,” said Mr Siddiqui, while adding that “secular credentials of Mr Yadav was never in question but his political opportunism”.
The SP is hopeful that once the “firebrand” Muslim leader that Mr Khan was known for is back into the party fold he would help the party in stemming the slide in support base due to phenomenal rise of Dr Ayub led Peace Party.
“Mr Khan will help Mr Yadav in restoring his credibility among Muslims. With Mr Amar Singh out of the party, there is no further stumbling block for Mr Khan to join the party,” added the senior functionary.
In the backdrop of the July 2008 trust vote in the Lok Sabha, the SP had witnessed a desertion of Muslim leaders, which included four time MPs Salim Sherwani and Shafiq-ur-Rehman Burq along with Mr Siddiqui, while Mr Khan was shown the door after a no-holds-barred war of words with Mr Amar Singh.