: Politics over mafia don Atiq Ahmed as SP, BSP eye Muslim vote bank for 2024 #IndiaNEWS #National SP Secretary General Ram Gopal Yadav has come forward in support of Ahmeds minor sons. Yadav said

Politics over mafia don Atiq Ahmed as SP, BSP eye Muslim vote bank for 2024 #IndiaNEWS #National
SP Secretary General Ram Gopal Yadav has come forward in support of Ahmeds minor sons.
Yadav said that the police are unable to find the real accused in the Prayagraj incident and that there was pressure on them to catch and frame anyone. He added that Ahmeds two sons were caught on the first day of the incident itself.
Yadav stated that it is suspected that one of them may have been killed. He said that the Constitution of India gives every citizen the fundamental right to life and the police cannot just apprehend someone and kill them, as that is a punishable offence.
The SP leader added that those who have done fake encounters will be prosecuted for murder.
He said that the culprits of Umesh Pal murder case should be punished severely but called the policies adopted by the state government destructive.
A senior SP leader said that the party, which has emerged as the largest opposition in the 2022 Assembly elections, does not want to lose the Muslim vote bank as the community has played a big role in strengthening it.
In the 2017 elections, 24 Muslim MLAs were elected, out of which 17 won on SP tickets, which increased to a total of 34 MLAs being elected in 2022, of which 31 were from SP.
BSP Chief Mayawati raised questions on the encounter of two of the four accused involved in the murder of Umesh Pal and said that the actions taken by the police in this matter have raised doubts within the minds of the people about the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh.
She questioned whether the government would repeat the Vikas Dubey scandal to cover up its failures.
Mayawati added that the state government is under a lot of tension and pressure, especially regarding the law and order situation, over the murder of Umesh Pal in broad daylight.
She said that the whole country had its eyes on the state government on whether it would follow the rule of law or stop crime by killing criminals on the streets.
A BSP leader said that the party would perform well with the strong Dalit-Muslim alliance even if it does not team up with SP.
He added that Mayawati knows that better results cannot be achieved only on the Dalit votebank, therefore, after the setback in the Assembly elections, BSP has been trying to reconnect with the prominent Muslim community.
Significantly, the BSP was reduced to one seat and 13 per cent vote bank in the Assembly elections. Meanwhile, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 10 BSP MPs won when it was in alliance with SP, prior to which the BSP had zero seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
One of the major reasons behind the BSPs poor performance in the Assembly polls was believed to be the one-sided vote of the Muslims for the SP. Even after giving 89 tickets to Muslim leaders, none of them had won.