Apparently peeved at the importance being meted out by the party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to party colleague Azam Khan, the Samajwadi party General Secretary Amar Singh said on Tuesday that Khan was a bigger leader than him due to which his "anti-party" activities were being ignored.

"Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has asked me personally not to make any statements against Azam, who has opened a front against party nominee from Rampur Jaya Prada and also making anti-party remarks", Amar Singh told reporters while replying to a question in Lucknow.

"Azam is more close to Mulayam than me", Singh said. When asked if the situation was bad enough for him to consider leaving the SP also, Singh said, "If I do not have an affection with the party and its chief, I would have considered it".

"SP can live without me... but not without Azam", he said adding that "to survive in SP, you have to tolerate Azam," said Singh who has several Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt supporting him.

A rift between the two SP leaders came forth after Khan went vocal about his displeasure in the party's decision to support former BJP leader Kalyan Singh.