Lucknow: Is the SP heading for a split? It seems that way with the rift between Azam Khan -- one of the founders of SP -- and Amar Singh, the face of the party, continuing to widen.
Amar Singh has fielded Jayaprada from Rampur for the second time. Azam Khan wants her out.
Amar Singh says he will quit the party if Azam Singh is not cut down to size. Azam Singh says Amar Singh is threatening him.
"I do not want to say anything, I wanted to keep quiet but today I am speaking out as there is a limit to one's patience," Singh says.
"There is a threat to my life in Amar Singh's yesterday's speech," retorts Khan, adding, "Jayaprada is a dancer not a politician."
The Azam-Amar dispute is not new. But it got worse after Amar Singh calibrated the SP's tie-up with Kalyan Singh.
After that Amar Singh's camp alleged that Azam's supporters attacked party leaders Abu Azmi and Jayaprada.
Sources in the SP say Azam has been negotiating a deal with the Congress.
Caught in the middle of all this is the party chief himself. So he's decided to let it be for now.
"We will settle down this dispute after the elections are over," says Mulayam Singh Yadav."
The SP is witnessing a battle for supremacy. SP leaders like Azam are wary of Amar Singh's rising influence. While Amar is out to prove that if the SP has to emerge a national player, Singh is king.