Phulpur (Allahabad): In January 2017, Ateeq Ahmad was told that he would not be allowed to contest the assembly polls on SP ticket. His name had been announced from Kanpur Cantt seat by Mr Shivpal Yadav and after Mr Akhilesh Yadav took over as Samajwadi Party chief, he did away with the candidate that had been announced by his estranged uncle.
Ateeq was the first casualty of the Yadav family war and he adopted a safer route out by declaring that he would not contest the assembly polls.
A year later, no one knows whether Ateeq is still in SP or out of it but one thing that everyone knows is that he is giving sleepless nights to the man who frowned at his candidature — Akhilesh Yadav.
At a time when the Samajwadi Party claimed that it had been propelled into a safe zone in the Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections after BSP and a host of smaller parties including NISHAD party , Peace Party, NCP and Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party announced their support to the SP candidate, Ateeq Ahmad has returned to take sweet revenge.
Presently lodged in Deoria jail on charges of criminal intimidation and violence in an educational institution, Ateeq Ahmad is an independent candidate in Phulpur, a seat he had won for the SP in 2004.
Ateeq, whose campaign is being conducted by his son Umar and wife Shaista, is focusing on the 3.1 lakh Muslims and Dalits who have a similar strength in the constituency.
“For the first time, Ateeq’s campaign is entering the Muslim and Dalit households. Whenever Ateeq campaigned, he would only meet the men and request them to ask the women in the house to vote for him. Now his wife is going from house to house, meeting women and seeking their votes directly. His son is targeting the youth and even though Ateeq is in jail, his campaign has picked up”, said Rauf Ahmad, a retired government employee in Phaphamau.
As Ateeq’s campaign picks up, there are visible worry lines in the SP camp and glee in the BJP house.
UP minister Siddhartha Nath Singh said candidly, “The candidate who is putting up a good fight against us (BJP) is Ateeq Ahmad. The SP is at the third position”.
Deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya, who is also camping in the constituency that he had won in 2014, said, “Sau mein saath hamara hoga , baki sab mein batwara hoga (we will get 60 per cent in 100 while others will share the rest). The BJP’s victory here is a foregone conclusion and they are levelling allegations against us to justify their own defeat”.
Ateeq, who has had stints in BSP and SP, interestingly, continues to enjoy support from a section of both the party cadres.
A BSP leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted that “Ateeq had personally obliged me when he was in BSP and we have maintained good relations even after he left the party. I cannot be ungrateful and oppose him now so I have feigned illness and remain at home. But I do pray that he wins this election”.
Reshu Srivastava, a businessman from Allahabad west that is a part of the Phulpur constituency, said that Ateeq Ahmad was popular among the poor where he enjoyed a Robinhood image.
