Prayagraj: Gangster Atiq Ahmed was a ‘shifty’ politician and would join hands with any outfit if it suited his own interest. If he was accused of launching an assault on BSP chief Mayawati in the 1996 guest house episode in Lucknow, he also ditched SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, who made him an MP in 2004, to vote against Indo-US nuclear deal in parliament in 2008.
He started as an independent MLA in 1989 from Allahabad West, his political ascendance coinciding with the time ‘Mandal’ and ‘Kamandal’ leading to sharp communal polarisation in UP and many other states. He won the same seat two more times as an Independent and then as an SP candidate in 1996. However, he was expelled from SP in 1998 and joined Apna Dal. In 2002, he won his home seat one last time on an AD ticket.
However, his political ambitions were soaring at that time and in 2004, when SP offered him LS polls ticket from Phulpur, the constituency represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, he grabbed it with both hands and won the seat. In the period between 2004 and 2008, he was in his political prime after which he never won an election and his downfall escalated after the rise of BJP in 2014. In 2019, when he contested against PM Narendra Modi in Varanasi, he secured just 855 votes.
In 2008, Atiq was an SP MP and seen close to Mulayam but defied the party whip to vote against the Manmohan Singh government at the centre during the confidence motion tabled against the Congress-led government on the issue of nuclear deal with US on July 22, 2008.
This trust vote was one of the most dramatic in parliament’s history. After almost a year of intense negotiations with Left parties, the UPA was unable to convince the then general secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Prakash Karat, on the deal. Soon, Left, with 60 MPs, withdrew support from the government which led to PM Manmohan Singh opting for a floor test.
This was one of those rare moments when the Left and the BJP came on the same platform to vote against the government. To save the government, UPA managers fell back on Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to win the test as SP had 39 members. After two days of debate, the UPA government won the motion with 275 votes in support while 256 MPs voted against it on July 22, 2008.
Atiq then was lodged in Mainpuri jail in a murder case. On the orders of the court, he was brought to Delhi under tight security to attend a two-day special session of Parliament so that he could take part in the trust vote. Despite the party’s whip he voted against the motion.
Six SP MPs who had cast their vote against the government, included four rebels — Munawwar Hasan, SP Singh Baghel, Rajnarayan Budholia and Jaiprakash Rawat — and two jailbirds — Atiq Ahmed and Afzal Ansari, the brother of gangster Mukhtar Ansari.
“I remember, the party had issued the whip and with the support of SP, Manmohan Singh’s government managed to prove the majority on the floor of the house,” recalls Shailendra Kumar, son of veteran Congress party leader, Dharamveer. Shailendra was a three-time MP from SP. Since, of the 39 SP MPs, six voted against the government, political pundits were of the opinion that since the then UP CM was Mayawati, Atiq was trying to increase his closeness with her by following the line of BSP. This could have led to his defiance, they say. All 17 BSP MPs voted against the Manmohan government.
He started as an independent MLA in 1989 from Allahabad West, his political ascendance coinciding with the time ‘Mandal’ and ‘Kamandal’ leading to sharp communal polarisation in UP and many other states. He won the same seat two more times as an Independent and then as an SP candidate in 1996. However, he was expelled from SP in 1998 and joined Apna Dal. In 2002, he won his home seat one last time on an AD ticket.
However, his political ambitions were soaring at that time and in 2004, when SP offered him LS polls ticket from Phulpur, the constituency represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, he grabbed it with both hands and won the seat. In the period between 2004 and 2008, he was in his political prime after which he never won an election and his downfall escalated after the rise of BJP in 2014. In 2019, when he contested against PM Narendra Modi in Varanasi, he secured just 855 votes.
In 2008, Atiq was an SP MP and seen close to Mulayam but defied the party whip to vote against the Manmohan Singh government at the centre during the confidence motion tabled against the Congress-led government on the issue of nuclear deal with US on July 22, 2008.
This trust vote was one of the most dramatic in parliament’s history. After almost a year of intense negotiations with Left parties, the UPA was unable to convince the then general secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Prakash Karat, on the deal. Soon, Left, with 60 MPs, withdrew support from the government which led to PM Manmohan Singh opting for a floor test.
This was one of those rare moments when the Left and the BJP came on the same platform to vote against the government. To save the government, UPA managers fell back on Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to win the test as SP had 39 members. After two days of debate, the UPA government won the motion with 275 votes in support while 256 MPs voted against it on July 22, 2008.
Atiq then was lodged in Mainpuri jail in a murder case. On the orders of the court, he was brought to Delhi under tight security to attend a two-day special session of Parliament so that he could take part in the trust vote. Despite the party’s whip he voted against the motion.
Six SP MPs who had cast their vote against the government, included four rebels — Munawwar Hasan, SP Singh Baghel, Rajnarayan Budholia and Jaiprakash Rawat — and two jailbirds — Atiq Ahmed and Afzal Ansari, the brother of gangster Mukhtar Ansari.
“I remember, the party had issued the whip and with the support of SP, Manmohan Singh’s government managed to prove the majority on the floor of the house,” recalls Shailendra Kumar, son of veteran Congress party leader, Dharamveer. Shailendra was a three-time MP from SP. Since, of the 39 SP MPs, six voted against the government, political pundits were of the opinion that since the then UP CM was Mayawati, Atiq was trying to increase his closeness with her by following the line of BSP. This could have led to his defiance, they say. All 17 BSP MPs voted against the Manmohan government.