In a significant move, Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam met Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohd Azam Khan in the Sitapur jail on Monday.
Krishnam, who is considered close to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, is the first leader outside the SP to have met the jailed leader.
On Sunday, SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra had been denied permission to meet Khan and unconfirmed reports said that the latter had refused the meeting.
Earlier, Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is visibly upset with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, met Khan in jail while Rashtriya Lok Dal President Jayant Chaudhary had visited the SP leader’s family in Rampur.
The AIMIM has already extended an invitation to Khan to join their party.
Khan, who has spent almost 26 months in jail, has received bail in almost all cases except one and sources close to him said that he could finally walk free before Eid early next month.
Khan, who recently won the Rampur Assembly seat with a substantial margin, is apparently being seen as a potential leader of anti-BJP forces in Uttar Pradesh.
(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)
