UP govt on its toes ahead of Akhilesh's protest in Rampur

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh is on its toes ahead of the Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav's planned demonstration in Rampur on Tuesday to protest against the detention of party leader Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam.

Yadav is arriving in Rampur on Monday for two days. "In the morning, Akhilesh will be in Bareilly to meet the family of former MLA Siyaram Sagar, who passed away recently. He will reach Rampur around 4 p.m. and meet party leader Azam Khan's family," Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said on Saturday.

The Rampur district administration has already imposed Section 144, which prohibits unlawful assembly, ahead of Samajwadi Party's protest.

However, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister has asked his party workers from Bareilly, Pilibhit, Sambhal, Badaun, Amroha, Moradabad and Bijnor to reach Rampur on Tuesday. SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav has also urged the party workers to support Azam Khan.

Abdullah Azam was detained late last month after he tried to prevent state police officials from carrying out a raid at the Mohammed Ali Jauhar University, which is run by Azam Khan. In the raid, the police recovered several hundred rare books allegedly stolen from other institutes in the district.

There are more than 81 cases of power theft, encroachment, buffalo theft and using indecent language against Samajwadi Party's Rampur MP Azam Khan. He has also been accused of illegally occupying government and farmers' land.

An arrest warrant has also been issued against him in three such cases.