You can always count on Azam Khan to rustle some feathers and to give us a different perspective on things. Speaking at a rally in Allahabad claimed that Muslims had more children because they were unemployed. He said: “Had badshah (emperor) Modi paid more heed to giving Muslims employment, the Muslims would have not produced so much. Sitting idle, Muslims have no work but to give birth to more children.”

He also alleged that Minister Narendra Modi had failed to fulfil his poll promises, saying badshah never tells lies and if he does, he is not a badshah. "The Prime Minister made a false promise to people that (black) money (stashed in foreign banks) will be deposited in their bank accounts but nothing of the sort happened. Badshah is never a liar and if he is a liar, he is not a Badshah," he said, addressing an election rally in Jarari village under Bhojpur Assembly constituency.

The SP leader also alleged that after occupying the high chair, Modi is indulging in such non-serious talk which is most unbecoming for him. "Because of note ban, thousands of labourers lost their jobs, schools and universities suffered and the country is on the verge of going bankrupt, mothers committed suicide and daughters' weddings could not take place, 200 people lost their lives standing in queues outside the banks. Modiji did very bad with the poor," he said.

Attacking the PM, he also said "If anyone had told me to make my 95-year-old mother stand in bank queue, I would never had allowed that but he made his mother stand there". Making an appeal to vote for SP, Khan said he has worked as a bridge between the father (Mulayam Singh) and son (Akhilesh) and saved the party from a split. Reacting to the incident, BJP’s Vijay Bahadur Pathak said: “Azam Khan should ask this question to the Congress, whom they have supported in the past and have formed an alliance with on why Muslims are still unemployed.”

Azam Khan is known for making fantastical statements about PM Modi. On February 6, 2016 he had claimed that Dawood Ibrahim was present when PM Modi met Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on Christmas day last year. Saying that he had proof of Dawood’s presence at the meeting: "I will give proof, let PM Modi deny.” Earlier, he had called PM Modi, ‘Ravana’, when he said: “The king who rules over 130 crore Indians goes to Lucknow to burn the effigy of Ravana, but he forgets that the biggest Ravana is not in Lucknow but in Delhi.”

In October, he had claimed that he would make a good prime minister. “I have all the qualities of becoming Prime Minister. I can make tea, play the drum, cook food and I wear proper clothes. Besides, I am not all that bad looking or am I corrupt," he said at an e-rickshaw distribution function in Sahranpur. Khan took jibes at Modi for his "chaiwala" beginnings, his "monogrammed suit" and his drum playing episodes in Japan and Tanzania.

"If I become Prime Minister, I assure you, I will deposit Rs 20 lakh in accounts of 130 crore people within six months. I am not like those who don't keep their promises," he said in an apparent dig at Modi over his poll promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh each in the account of every Indian.

With inputs from agencies