Two days after the heated exchange between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and leader of opposition Akhilesh Yadav in the state assembly over the sensational killing of Umesh Pal, the key witness in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case, and political links of main accused Atiq Ahmed, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Monday came forward in defence of Atiq’s wife Shaista Praveen.
In a series of tweets on Monday, the former chief minister of UP said that her party had taken note of reports of FIR lodged against Shaista Parveen, wife of former MP and five-time MLA Atiq Ahmed, and their two sons in the murder of Umesh Pal and his gunner.
“Taking a serious note, the BSP has decided that Shaista Parveen will be expelled from the party if she is proven guilty in the inquiry in this matter,” Mayawati said in one of the tweets.
A day after Umesh Pal and his police guard were shot dead in Prayagraj, the police on Saturday had lodged an FIR against Atiq Ahmed, who is currently in a Gujarat jail, Parveen Shaista, their sons, his younger brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf, and others.
“It is a well-known fact that Atiq Ahmed is a Samajwadi Party product and he was MP and MLA from that party. Also, Raju Pal's wife too has switched over from the BSP to the SP, the party she had been calling the main culprit,” the BSP chief said.
In another tweet, Mayawati said the BSP does not punish any innocent person for the crime committed by his or her family or community.
“It is also true that the party does not promote criminal elements of any caste or religion,” Mayawati added.
The BSP had inducted Parveen Shaista into the party on January 5 to field her for the mayoral polls in Prayagraj. However, a formal announcement about her candidature was put on hold when the local bodies polls were delayed to complete the OBC survey for reservation.
On Saturday, when the SP raised the murder of Umesh Pal in Vidhan Sabha, Yogi Adityanath had said his government would destroy mafias and criminals like Atiq Ahmed, the main accused in the 2005 murder case.
When Yogi Adityanath accused the SP of sheltering criminals and mafias, Akhilesh Yadav said, “In my party? Tell me which party he is a member of. Since you have a friendship with the Bahujan Samaj Party, you are not taking the name of the BSP.”
Yadav's remark was seen in the context of Ahmed's wife Parveen Shaista who had joined the BSP in January.
The UP chief minister had also said the criminal who carried out the Prayagraj murder was out of the state and was repeatedly elected MLA and MP with the SP support. “Is it not true that in 1996 the mafia was elected MLA from Allahabad West seat with the support of the Samajwadi Party? That mafia was again elected MP in 2004 with SP support,” Adityanath had said.
