Ahead of his Saturday visit, posters had appeared in the town denouncing his ties with Singh, whom the Muslims hold responsible for demolition of the Babri mosque.

Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary, however, said the visit was not cancelled, but only postponed.

“Yadav had some important work on Saturday, so the visit was called off and a new date will be announced soon,” he said.

Asad Jamal Faizi, president of the Deoband unit of Samajwadi Party, said posters protesting the visit of Yadav had appeared in several places in the town, denouncing his ‘friendship’ with Kalyan Singh. A poster read: “We can never forgive the culprits responsible for Babri Masjid demolition.”

Faizi said Yadav wanted to visit the seminary on February 27, but the rector Maulana Magrubur Rahman said it being a Friday, a holiday, the SP chief should come the next day.

“For some reasons, he could not visit today but Darul Uloom administration has informed us that he can come any day,” Faizi added.

“Yadav will come here on March 4 and the Ulema of the Darul Uloom will welcome him. There could be some misunderstanding over the Kalyan Singh factor but the situation here is quite congenial for the party,” said Rajendra Rana, former MLA of Deoband.

Rattled by the adverse fallout of its tie-up with Singh, the Samajwadi Party is making desperate attempts to woo the Muslims.

On February 3, Yadav had convened a meeting of Muslim clerics and the same day party general secretary Amar Singh had rushed to the Darul Uloom.

As none in the seminary was ready to host him, he went to neighbouring madarsa Darul Uloom Waqf.

He, however, faced hostile questions from the students regarding the SP’s relations with Kalyan Singh.

To pacify angry students, Amar Singh said the former BJP leader should tender an unconditional apology for his role in the demolition of the Babri mosque.