Amar threatens to quit SP over Azam Khan issue

In an ultimatum to party president Mulayam Singh Yadav over the Azam Khan issue, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has threatened to quit the party after the Lok Sabha polls, accusing the Muslim leader of making "intolerable utterances" against him.

Singh said he would decide over continuing in the party after the end of the final phase of polls, referring to Yadav's statement that party mein rehna hai to Azam Khan ko khush rakhna hai (If you want to remain in the party, you will have to keep Azam Khan happy).

"Azam Khan is a favourite of Mulayam Singhji and in spite of his (Khan) intolerable utterances against me, I was being asked to keep silent," Singh said, addressing a public meeting in Rampur, 250

km from Lucknow, on Thursday.

Singh said he is expecting a shoe as a "gift" from his estranged party colleague Azam Khan, claiming he (Khan) must have readied one by now.

At the meeting in support of party candidate Jayaprada, Singh said, "I am waiting for a shoe from Mr Azam Khan. I sincerely invite him to come forward and hand me over the shoe, which he is supposed to have readied by now."

"I am impatiently waiting for the moment when Mr Khan will implement his plan out of proportion to insult me," he said angrily.

"If a shoe comes from Khan, I would first decorate this precious gift and then place it in a museum," he said.