Gun-brandishing act may cost politically strong Pandeys dear
LUCKNOW: The family of Ashish Pandey, former Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker’s son and a Lucknow realtor, whose video brandishing a gun outside a 5-star hotel in Delhi went viral, is known for its muscle power and political clout in Ambedkarnagar and adjoining districts.
His father Rakesh Pandey won the 2009 Lok Sabha election from the Ambedkarnagar constituency on a BSP ticket. In his affidavit, Rakesh mentioned he had three criminal cases against him in Lucknow, Faizabad and Ambedkarnagar districts. These include charges of kidnapping and murder. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Pandey lost his seat as the BJP swept the state.
Ashish’s two uncles (father’s younger brothers), Pawan and Krishna Kant, also have a long criminal history. Pawan is an accused in the Babri mosque demolition case and has 32 other criminal cases registered against him from 1992 to 2007. These include a murder case. He was active in the Shiv Sena but switched loyalty to the BSP before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, in which he contested unsuccessfully from the Sultanpur constituency, losing out to BJP’s Varun Gandhi.
Meanwhile, Krishna Kant has at least 18 criminal cases against him in Ambedkarnagar, Faizabad and Allahabad, lodged from 1993 to 2004. He also contested the 2012 UP elections from the Isauli assembly constituency of Sultanpur, but was unsuccessful. Initially, he was active in the Congress, but later joined the BSP.
The hold of Pandey family in Ambedkarnagar can be gauged from the fact that in the 2017 assembly elections when the BSP won merely 19 seats and was virtually wiped out in western UP, it still secured victory on three out of five seats in the district. These included the Jalalpur assembly seat that was won by Ashish’s brother Ritesh Pandey.
The family was also credited for BSP’s success in eastern UP. They are said to enjoy influence over upper caste voters in Faizabad, Ambedekarnagar and Sultanpur districts, and there were reports they were trying to make a comeback in the 2019 Lok Sabha election after being assured of tickets by the BSP leadership.
However, now, the BSP is in a damage control mode. It has distanced itself from Ashish’s gunwielding act. A senior leader said that Ashish was not a member of the party and the police should take appropriate legal action against him. Another BSP leader said that Ashish’s act could spell trouble for his father and uncles who were aspiring for BSP tickets in the general elections. “The party leadership cannot ignore public outrage over his act,” he said. Leader of the BSP legislature party, Lalji Verma, and national general secretary, Ramachal Rajbhar, could not be contacted. HT tried to contact Rakesh Pandey, but there was no response.