Akhilesh Yadav is using Mulayam Singh Yadav to shield Azam Khan: UP Minister

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav is using Mulayam Singh Yadav as a shield to justify Azam Khan's land-grabbing, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president and minister Swatantra Dev Singh on Tuesday.

Swatantra Dev Singh issued a statement on Tuesday in response to former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's press conference earlier today in which Yadav defended Azam Khan in cases registered against him related to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.

"The way in which the Mulayam Singh Yadav's press conference was orgsed, it proves that under Akhilesh Yadav's government, Azam Khan used his position to commit such scams," the statement read.

"Now that his scams are surfacing, they are putting their senior-most leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav forward to prove their innocence. This is happening despite the fact that the SP party president himself had conducted a press conference to prove Khan's innocence," the statement further read.

Under the previous state government, government land and the land of poor were grabbed on a large scale and despite several complaints there were no actions, Singh stated.

"Now, Yogi government is taking cognizance of these complaints and investigations are being conducted under the purview of the law. If a lawful investigation is being carried out against Azam Khan, then why is Akhilesh Yadav getting uncomfortable? If Azam Khan has done nothing wrong then why is he afraid?" he stated.

( With inputs from ANI )