Rampur, UP: In widening of rift with his party chief, SP General Secretary Amar Singh has virtually threatened to quit the outfit if Mulayam Singh Yadav does not rein in Azam Khan, who has been making "intolerable utterances" against him.
Singh said he would decide over continuing in the party after the end of the final phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
He was 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's) intolerable utterances against me, I was being asked to keep silent," Singh said addressing a public meeting in Rampur on Thursday.
"Mulayam Singh Yadav is my leader, my elder brother and national president. It is his order to me that if I have to stay in Samajwadi Party, I have to bear with Azam Khan," Singh said, maintaining that he has been told, "You don't have to say anything, keep absolutely quiet.
"But today I am disobeying this order publicly. And I am doing this because there is a limit to how much one can bear," the SP General Secretary said.