‘Rats abandon a sinking ship’: Azam on leaders deserting SP

Lucknow, Aug 29 (PTI) In the backdrop of a number ofleaders and MLAs deserting Samajwadi Party, senior UttarPradesh minister Azam Khan today likened them to proverbialrats of the sinking ship, an expression that might causeembarrassment to the ruling party. "When rats feel that the ship might have developed a holeand is about to sink…rats are the first to desert it…(similarly) people who apprehend that they might be deniedparty tickets, they run away (from the party)," he said. Khan was replying to a question about some SP leaders andsitting legislators switching over to other parties. Recently Budhana MLA Nawazish Alam Khan left SP for BSP,while Gopalmau MLA Shyam Prakash, and Jalalpur MLA SherBahadur quit the ruling party and joined BJP. Within hours of Khan’s remarks, Congress asked people totake note of the "sinking ship" comment by a "seasonedpolitician". "If he says SP is a sinking ship, people should take noteof it," Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar said. Earlier also Khan had made remarks that caused flutter inthe SP camp and this time too Opposition parties are likely touse the comment to cause unease within the SP ahead of theAssembly elections. Khan is not seen to be on the same page with SP supremoMulayam Singh Yadav on some issues, including on inclusion ofAmar Singh in the party. Sending Singh to Rajya Sabha on SP ticket and makingactor Jaya Prada the Senior Vice-chairperson of UP FilmDevelopment Council have not gone down well with Khan. PTI SABSMI TIR ZMNTIR