Jaya Prada vs Azam Khan in Rampur likely

Shahira Naim 

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, March 25

An announcement on actress Jaya Prada joining the saffron party and being fielded against mentor and expelled SP leader Amar Singh’s archrival Mohd Azam Khan is expected soon. The nine-time Samajwadi Party MLA was the key campaigner when the actress first contested and won from Rampur in 2004. It became ugly after the SP entered an alliance with Kalyan Singh ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which was facilitated by Amar Singh and bitterly opposed by Azam Khan. Azam Khan opposed Jaya Prada’s candidature in 2009. Yet she won and Azam Khan was expelled from the party for six years on the insistence of Amar Singh.

Soon Amar Singh also fell out of favour and was thrown out of the party in February 2010, along with Jaya Prada. A few months later in December 2010, Azam Khan returned to the party fold and became the seniormost minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s Cabinet.

After years in wilderness, both Amar Singh and Jaya Prada contested on the RLD ticket in 2014. Both lost.