Ahead of the much-awaited 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Asaduddin Owaisi led AIMIM has opened its arms for the notorious gangster Mukhtar Ansari, who remains in Banda jail owing to several pending criminal cases against him. All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Syed Asim Waqar has on Friday reportedly said on behalf of his party that “if Ansari wants, the AIMIM will give him a ticket”.
“Mayawati ji says Mukhtar Ansari is a criminal so they are cancelling his ticket. As long as Atiq Ahmad and Mukhtar Ansari gave them benefits, they were given tickets,” said Waqar, adding, “On behalf of the AIMIM, I assure that if Ansari wants, our doors are open and we will give him a ticket.”
BSP chief Mayawati ditches close aide Mukhtar Ansari
The statement came hours after former Uttar Pradesh CM and BSP supremo Mayawati dropped her close aide and party MLA Mukhtar Ansari as a candidate for next year’s state election.
While declaring that the BSP’s state chief Bhim Rajbhar would be the candidate from Mau instead of Ansari, Mayawati had tweeted this morning: “BSP’s efforts will be that no mafia or strongman gets party ticket in the upcoming UP assembly polls. Keeping this in mind, not Mukhtar Ansari but Bhim Rajbhar has been finalised for the Mau constituency.”
Mayawati’s announcement came soon after Sigbatullah Ansari, a brother of Mukhtar Ansari, joined Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
Mayawati explained that her decision to avoid Mukhtar Ansari was part of her endeavour to meet the public’s “expectations” and pass this test. She urged her party’s office-bearers to consider candidates’ backgrounds when choosing candidates so that if the BSP forms government, it will be able to take “strong action against such elements.”
The BSP was committed to the paradigm of “kanoon dwara kanoon ka raj” (the use of the law to enforce the rules of law), and changing the face of Uttar Pradesh, she added.
According to reports, Mukhtar Ansari may have been kicked out of the BSP by the supremo to counter accusations by the ruling BJP and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath depicting BSP as a party of criminals and gangsters.
When Mayawati had campaigned for the dreaded gangster
Before the last UP election in 2017 when Ansari had rejoined the BSP after 7 years, Mayawati had campaigned for Mukhtar Ansari in Mau. Mayawati had said at the time that Ansari had been framed by the Samajwadi Party government of Akhilesh Yadav.
“My government has always been tough on criminals. But I also ensure that no one is fabricated in false cases. Mukhtar Ansari’s family is one such example. His family has been framed in false cases,” she had said.
Meanwhile, Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari is currently lodged in Banda jail. He has been in jails across UP on various charges since 2005. Ansari is charged in over 50 criminal cases, including murder and kidnapping. Fifteen cases have gone into trial.
Gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari lodged in Banda jail
Ansari had been booked by Ghazipur police under the Uttar Pradesh Gangster and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act. The UP government has been demolishing multiple illegal properties of Ansari spread across the state and had also cracked down on Ansari’s aides and associates, as well as his illegal businesses. Ansari, the descendant of a politically powerful family linked with Congress leaders has been a mafia don and MLA for several consecutive terms.
