Overview

• Akhilesh Yadav met senior leader Azam Khan at his Rampur residence for the first time since Khan’s September 23 release, holding a private discussion over two hours and sharing lunch.
• Party schedules show Yadav flew from Lucknow to Bareilly and then took a chopper to Rampur, with Rampur MP Mohibullah Nadvi left behind after Khan said he would meet only Yadav.
• Yadav called Khan the “tree” of the Samajwadi Party and pledged to fight the legal battle together, reiterating the party’s earlier stance that cases against Khan would be withdrawn if it returns to power.
• Khan’s release after nearly two years in jail and his vow to meet only the SP chief underscore a carefully managed rapprochement that observers say could bolster the party’s Muslim–Yadav base.
• A widely shared video claiming a recent meeting between Yogi Adityanath and Azam Khan is misleading, as fact-checks trace the clip to a 2017 assembly session.