Will the UP assembly pay tribute to Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf? | Lucknow News

LUCKNOW: Will UP assembly pay tribute to gangster-turned politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf who were killed by three assailants in Prayagraj in April this year?

The question has attained much pertinence two weeks after Atiq’s name found a mention in the list of obituaries of Lok Sabhawhen it convened its monsoon session. Highly placed sources in Vidhan Sabha said that the names of both Atiq and Ashraf were under consideration for being read out on the opening day of the UP assembly session as well.

“The assembly is expected to follow the conventional tradition of paying tributes to its former members, just like Lok Sabha,” a senior official said.
Atiq was one of the prime accused in the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder of former BSP MLA Raju Pal. Umesh Pal was gunned down outside his Prayagraj residence on February 24, in what saw the opposition upping the ante against the Yogi Adityanath government over law and order situation. Yogi had then unleashed a fierce rebuke at the opposition, maintaining that his government was committed to getting rid of the mafia. “Is mafia ko mitti mein mila denge,” Yogi had said on the floor of the house on February 25.

Atiq made a debut in UP politics by winning Allahabad west assembly seat as an independent in 1989. He retained the seat twice in 1991 and 1993. In 1996 he won the seat on Samajwadi Party ticket. After SP showed him the door, Atiq won the seat in 2002, this time on Apna Dal ticket. In 2003, returned to SP and won the Phulpur parliamentary seat in 2004 Lok Sabha election.
Likewise, his brother Ashraf too has been a member of UP assembly. He won from Allahabad west seat in 2005 by polls after Raju Pal was murdered. Ashraf, who was one of the accused in Pal’s murder, had been languishing in Bareilly jail before he was brought to Prayagraj.