Mulayam, Amar in Azamgarh as war hots up

LUCKNOW: The war for the Muslim vote in Uttar Pradesh is hotting up. Less than a week after Chief Minister Mayawati declared a slew of welfare measures for the community, Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh will on Friday hold a public rally in Azamgarh district.

The location has been chosen with care. It will held in Azamgarh's Daudpur village, about 270 km from here, that neighbours Sanjarpur -- which hit the national spotlight after over a dozen terror suspects from the area were rounded up on police claims that they were involved in the serial bombings in the country.

Besides Atif and Sajid, who were killed in a police shootout in Delhi's Jamia Nagar last month for their alleged involvement in the Delhi serial blasts, over a dozen other youth of the village were nabbed in connection with blasts in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jaipur.

As emotions run high with the perception amongst the minority community that its youth are being victimised in the name of terrorism, Samajwadi Party's supremos Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh will also visit family members of the terror suspects in Sanjarpur. 

"The rally will be held in Daudpur village and both Yadav and Singh will address the gathering," Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said.

In a convention of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Monday, Mayawati had stated that the entire Muslim community was being painted with the same brush of terrorism whereas those involved in such incidents were a handful of misguided youth.