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Updated: Apr 08, 2019 11:17 IST

An Uttar Pradesh man has lodged a complaint with the police against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Sunday for allegedly calling chief minister Yogi Adityanath ‘neech’ or lowly during an election campaign in the state’s Rampur.

Laxmikant Saini, a resident of Swar locality of Rampur, filed the police complaint against Khan for his remark made at a public meeting in Tanda against Yogi Adityanath on April 5.

“Yogi Adityanath is not only the chief minister of UP but is also the head priest of Gorakhnath Mutt. The remarks against Yogiji have upset the people as well as the saints and hence there is a need to act against him,” Saini said in his police complaint.

“Azam Khan knows that he is losing. That’s why he is getting desperate and making remarks which he hopes would help him polarise the electorate. But he should know that his tactics now lie exposed,” he said.

The Rampur Police did not confirm if they intend to register the complaint against Khan, who is known for his controversial comments.

Earlier in April, Azam Khan was booked for his inflammatory speeches against Rampur’s district administrative officials, hours after he filed his nomination papers as the SP-BSP alliance candidate from the Rampur Lok Sabha seat. The FIR was lodged on the complaint of local Congress leader Faizal Lala Khan.

The senior SP leader has held the Rampur assembly constituency for almost 33 out of the last 39 years.

Bollywood actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada will be taking on Khan as the BJP candidate from the seat. Jaya Prada is a two-term former member of Parliament from Rampur and had contested on the Samajwadi Party’s ticket. She was first introduced in Rampur by Khan, who is believed to have played a key role in her first win.

Subsequently, the relationship between the two soured which led to Jaya Prada quitting the Samajwadi Party. She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party only recently and was promptly named as its candidate against Khan.

Khan, on his part, has again attacked Jaya Prada for making comments against him.

Speaking at a public meeting in Shahbad, Khan said soon after she was named the BJP candidate from Rampur, Jaya Prada had said she was going to Rampur to “kill a demon”.

“I, who begged for your children, one who got a grand university constructed so that your children could study, one who got roads laid and water tanks constructed is being referred to as a ‘demon’. She is calling me a demon who needs to be beheaded and that’s why the BJP has sent her here,” Khan said.

Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of members at 80 to Parliament, will go to polls in all the seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The results will be declared on May 23.