Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister, Azam Khan, has hit back at her former party colleague and actor-turned-politician, Jaya Prada, by calling her a ‘naachne waali’.
Addressing a crowd he said, “Padmaavat was released. I’ve heard that Khilji’s character is very bad…But one woman, a naachne waali (dancer), has made some comments about yours truly. Now you tell me. If I start entertaining naachne gaane waali, then how will I do politics. (applause)”
This was in response to Prada’s comments made on Saturday about Khan. The former Samajwadi Party MP was quoted as saying, “When I was watching Padmaavat, the Khilji’s character reminded me of Azam Khan. How he harassed me during the elections when I was contesting.”
The animosity between Khan and Prada dates back to 2010 when the latter had her along with Amar Singh expelled from the party. Prada was believed to be very close to Singh within the party. In 2015, Singh had blamed Khan for the expulsion of the duo from the Samajwadi Party. He had said, “Amar Singh, in 2015, alleged that Azam Khan was behind the suspension of the duo. “Azam is close to Mulayam Singh Yadav and due to him me and Jaya Prada was sacked form SP. Such statements from him, will adversely affect party’s reputation.”
Khan, who has been representing Rampur constituency, was a very powerful cabinet minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government with some saying that he was the de facto chief minister.