'I will come out clean': Azam Khan confident of justice; reaffirms SP loyalty

Rampur (UP), Sep 24 (PTI) A day after his release from the Sitapur jail, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan said he was confident of getting justice from the courts and reaffirmed his association with the party.

On the speculation of his joining the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Khan said that he had "something called character", hinting that he was not leaving the Samajwadi Party (SP).

"I have faith that I will come out clean. I am confident that I will get justice from the high court and, if not, from the Supreme Court," Khan told reporters during a brief interaction in Rampur, a day after he was released from jail where he had been lodged for nearly two years.

Responding to questions about SP president Akhilesh Yadav welcoming his release and calling it a victory of justice, Khan said, "He (Akhilesh) is the leader of a big party. If he has said something like this for a small man like me, it shows his greatness." Told that he himself was considered a senior leader of the party, Khan said he saw himself as "a big servant and worker of the party".

However, he indicated that since his release from jail, he has not spoken to Yadav over the phone. "I did not have a phone for years; I remembered only my wife's number and now I have forgotten even that number." Asked about reported differences between Rampur and Saifai camps, Khan, in a lighter vein, urged journalists not to "ignite a fire" on the matter.

A founding member of the SP and a 10-time MLA from Rampur, Khan faces several criminal cases, including allegations of land grabbing and corruption, which he has repeatedly termed as politically motivated.

He reached his home in Rampur on Tuesday evening after being granted bail by the court.

Faced with multiple cases over the years, Khan's release came days after the Allahabad High Court recently granted him bail in the Quality Bar land encroachment case in Rampur district last week.

The case pertained to the alleged illegal occupation of the bar premises, with Khan's name added during reinvestigation nearly five years after the FIR was lodged. PTI KIS KSS KSS