Samajwadi Party has demanded the removal of Director General of Police OP Singh and district magistrate and district police chief of Rampur, the native town of senior party leader Mohammad Azam Khan.
A delegation of senior SP leaders led by leader of opposition in UP Assembly, Ram Govind Chaudhary, met Chief Electoral Officer of UP, L Venkateshwarlu and submitted a memorandum of demands to him.
Chaudhary later alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party regime was targeting senior SP leader and Rampur MLA Azam Khan. He alleged that the District Magistrate of Rampur had launched a vindictive campaign against Khan to subdue him. The SP leader pointed out that Urdu Gate constructed on the road leading to Jauhar University was recently demolished by district administration and a school run by Khan was forcibly evicted from a building allotted to him by the previous SP government.
On March 6, Rampur District Magistrate Anjaney Singh demolished Urdu Gate which was illegally constructed by Jauhar University Trust, owned and operated by Azam Khan.
The SP leader alleged that the DM and SSP of Rampur had unleashed a reign of terror and both officers, besides targeting the SP leader, were also terrorising common man.
Khan these days has been perturbed over speculations that the BJP is likely to field former cine star and two term SP MP from Rampur, Jaya Prada, as a candidate from Rampur Lok Sabha seat.
Jaya Prada had won the Lok Sabha election from Rampur in 2004. Despite vehement opposition by Khan, the SP again fielded her as party candidate in 2009. Despite Khan spearheading a virulent campaign against the actor-turned-MP during the 2009 elections, she won from Rampur. Later, Khan was expelled from the party and readmitted ahead of the 2012 UP Assembly election.
To mount pressure on Rampur district administration and expand political space for himself, Khan announced that the Rampur unit of Samajwadi Party would boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Rampur Lok Sabha seat is in SP quota and Khan is likely to be fielded by the party.
Earlier, slamming the Rampur district administration for demolishing Urdu Gate, Khan said: “Rampur district administration is taking action at the behest of the state government. They are making the situation in the state similar to that in Kashmir. In such a scenario, free and fair election cannot be conducted. The local administration is hatching a conspiracy to target schools run by Jauhar Trust and has taken deliberate action against Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.”
