BSP leader wants Atiq Ahmad’s wife Shaista to contest mayor poll. Here’s why

Justifying their decision to let murdered gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s wife Shaista Parveen remain in the party, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA said that it wasn’t Atiq who joined the party but his wife and they even wanted her to contest mayoral elections.

BSP MLA Umahsankar Singh told news agency ANI, “We made Shaista Parveen join the party, not Atiq Ahmad and we also wanted her to stand for Mayor elections. Till now neither the govt nor the police has shown any such video that shows Shaista Parveen has any link with that incident. The day she gets involved, BSP will not keep such a person in the party. No action has been taken by the party against her, she is still in the party.”

Shaista, 51, is on the most-wanted list of the UP Police after her husband Atiq was shot dead in police custody. A reward of ₹50,000 has been announced for any information about her.

In a gap of only two days, Shaista had lost her son Asad and husband Atiq. Two days after Asad was killed in a police encounter carried out by a special task force of the Uttar Pradesh police, Atiq and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Prayagraj.

There were speculations that Shaista Parveen would surrender at Atiq’s last rites, but she is still absconding.

Efforts to arrest Shaista were intensified last week by the UP Police as they searched all possible hideouts that were known to the police where she could’ve been, including her family’s houses in various localities and villages in Prayagraj as well as neighbouring Kaushambi districts.

The UP Police believes that with her son and husband dead, Shaista would be the one who could have more information to shed light on the planning and execution of the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police guards who were killed on February 24.

Shaista, along with Atiq and Asad, was one of the named accused in the Umesh Pal murder case and she has been on the run since February 24.