Bareilly (UP), Apr 27 (PTI) Samajwadi Party's Bhojipura MLA Shazil Islam, booked for allegedly making provocative remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, did not attend the Iftar hosted by his party here on Wednesday.

This comes a day after he failed to meet a party delegation. The 12-member SP delegation led by MLC Sanjay Lathar on Tuesday first waited for Islam at his petrol pump -- which was recently demolished for allegedly being illegal -- and then visited his residence here but found it locked and had to return without meeting him.

Also Read | NDMA Issues Guidelines for COVID-19 Death Compensation Claims; Check Details.

SP district president Shiv Charan Kashyap did not respond to questions about Islam's absence.

SP MLA Ataur Rehman, too, did not turn up at the Iftar but party spokesperson Yogesh Yadav said he was on a Haj pilgrimage.

Also Read | Ahmedabad Shocker: Woman Assaulted by Husband for Wanting To Study Further.

Recently, SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra did not meet party leader Azam Khan, lodged in the Sitapur district jail, even as Congress leader Pramod Krishnam and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party's Lohia Shivpal Yadav visited him in the jail.

In political circles, the two events are being viewed as the Muslim leaders' way to express their unhappiness over SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's "silence" even when the Yogi Adityanath government has been allegedly acting tough on them.

While Islam's phone remained switched off, his neighbours had said they were not aware of the MLA's whereabouts.

Sources close to the third-term MLA said he and his family members stayed away from the SP team fearing more action against them by the administration.

A Bareilly district court had on Friday turned down Islam's anticipatory bail plea in a case for allegedly threatening the chief minister and making "provocative" statements against him.

"The Yogi (Adityanath) government is very 'nirdayee' (cruel). It wants to keep people frightened. And, it is because of this that they are operating bulldozers. The state government is spreading terror. We will raise this matter in the House," Lathar had said.

The 46-year-old MLA had told his party workers that there was no need to be afraid of the BJP and if the saffron party tried to have its way, the SP will protest and block the streets.

Subsequently, a petrol pump that was allegedly built illegally by Shazil Islam at Parsakheda on the Bareilly-Delhi National Highway, was demolished using a bulldozer by the Bareilly Development Authority on April 7.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)