Mukhtar joins BSP, gets Mau ticket

HAVING FIELDED NEARLY 100 MUSLIMS AND SEEKING TO FORGE A DALITMUSLIM COMBINE, MAYAWATI HOPES TO GAIN POLITICALLY

FROM THE MERGER

LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati welcomed mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and family, along with his shooter son Abbas, after the don merged his Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) with the party.

With Abbas by his side, Mukhtar’s brother, Afzal, announced the merger after accusing SP national president and Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, of betrayal. Angry with Akhilesh for denying tickets to Ansaris, Afzal termed him ‘anti-Muslim’. Unlike Mukhtar who, at one point, had over 40 cases, including those of murder and kidnapping against him, his son and brother have no criminal record. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Mayawati had described Mukhtar as ‘garibon ka masiha’ (saviour of the poor).

Mukhtar will contest from Mau (Cantt) seat, from where he is a sitting lawmaker, on BSP ticket. Abbas will make his electoral debut from Ghosi while Afzal will take on BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai’s widow, Alka Rai, from Mohammadabad.

Mukhtar is a prime accused in the Krishnanand Rai murder case. He is currently in Agra jail.

Last year, SP leader Shivpal Yadav had announced the merger of QED with the party. However, Akhilesh, who had in the 2012 UP polls stalled the entry of mafia-turned-politician DP Yadav into the party, opposed the merger.

Driven by political compulsions, Mayawati, however, defended Mukhtar, saying that nothing has been proved against the don till now in the BJP MLA’s murder.

“Moreover, I have been told that Mukhtar was already in jail at the time of Rai’s murder. So how could someone murder anyone from behind the bars? The murder took place when the Samajwadi Party government was in power and still nothing has been proved against him despite the case being in court for so many years,” Mayawati said.

Rai was murdered on November 29, 2005, and Mukhtar’s name had cropped up as that of the prime accused.

Having fielded nearly 100 Muslims and seeking to forge a Dalit-Muslim combine to edge out BJP and SP, Mayawati hopes to gain politically with the merger as the Ansaris wield influence in east UP constituencies like Mau, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Varanasi and Ballia. “Our party has always given chance to people to reform themselves. That is why we say that BSP isn’t just a political party but a social revolution ,” she said.