Lucknow,  A day after Mohd Azam Khan's brother-in-law Zameer Ahmad Khan said that the former was upset with his Samajwadi Party (SP) for not supporting him in his hour of crisis, the Congress has stepped in to corner the SP for 'abandoning' their leader.

Uttar Pradesh Congress minority cell president Shahnawaz Alam has said that by not standing in support of Azam Khan, the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has sent out clear signals about his future politics.

"It is shameful that a leader who has given thirty years of his life to a party is being isolated in this manner. If the SP cannot stand behind one of its tallest leaders, then how can the party be expected to protect the minorities who are often implicated in false criminal cases?"

The Congress now wants to project a pro-minority image by lashing out against the Samajwadi Party which, till now, had been considered a custodian of minorities, especially Muslims.

Mohd Azam Khan's brother-in-law Zameer Ahmed Khan had told reporters outside Sitapur jail on Monday that, "The SP MP is disturbed by the fact that the party did not stand by him when the state government started targeting him soon after BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh. It was only later that some senior leaders spoke about it."

Zameer Ahmad Khan said the senior SP leader is so upset with the party that he is not willing to meet other party leaders who are visiting him. He said that the veteran leader is feeling cheated by party's attitude even though SP president Akhilesh Yadav visited him in Sitapur jail the day he was shifted from Rampur prison.

SP MP Mohd Azam Khan has been facing more than 84 criminal cases related to land encroachment, land grabbing, book theft, buffalo theft, goat theft, power theft etc.

He, along with his wife Tanzeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam, were arrested last month on February 26 after they surrendered in a Rampur court in connection with forgery of birth documents of Abdullah Azam, who has already been disqualified as member of the UP assembly on the same grounds.

The family was shifted to Sitapur jail the next day and their bail application in a district court was also rejected on Monday.