BSP expels Ansari brothers for criminal activities

The Bahujan Samajwadi Party expelled jailed Member of Legislative Assembly Mukhtar Ansari, who is facing 30 criminal cases including murder and kidnapping, and his brother former Member of Parliament Afzal Ansari from the party for their alleged continued involvement in criminal activities on Friday.

BSP president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has expelled the Ansari brothers, who joined the party in 2007, with immediate effect, a BSP spokesman said in a release.

The BSP said it had allowed the Ansari brothers to join the party on the promise that they would refrain from any criminal activity in future, but the recent raid in Ghazipur jail, where Mukhtar was lodged, proved that he was still involved in criminal activities. Besides, the party has also decided not to take support of another Ansari brother, Sibgatullah Ansari -- who was elected on Samajwadi Party ticket from Ghazipur's Mohammadabad assembly constituency and had volunteered to extended support to the BSP in the Vidhan Sabha, he said.

Even as Mukhtar's criminal antecedents were widely known, he was accorded a place in the party by none other the party supremo and UP chief minister Mayawati, who then justified him as a "Robin Hood".

The criminal-turned-politician, whose name spells terror in large parts of eastern UP, was inducted into the BSP with much fanfare shortly after Mayawati rode on to power for the fourth time in May 2007.

Mukhtar, an accused in the infamous Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnanand Rai murder case, was fielded as a BSP candidate from Varanasi in the last Lok Sabha elections. However, he lost the seat to the BJP.

After coming to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, the BSP had taken Ansari brothers into its fold in a bid to bring them on the right path in order to establish rule of law, the spokesperson said.

They had claimed that they had been framed in criminal cases as they had been fighting the feudal system and the BSP gave them an opportunity to reform, he said.

However, several things were seized during a raid at Ghazipur jail earlier this month that proved that the Ansari brothers were still involved in criminal activities, the spokesman said.

Taking note of this, the chief minister expelled the Ansari brothers, he added.

The BSP has also decided to distance itself from their cousin Sibtain Ullah Ansari, who had been extending his support to the party despite being a Samajwadi Party MLA.

With inputs from Sharat Pradhan