Mukhtar Ansari to get SP ticket in snub to CM

Cocking a snook at UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's efforts to rid the Samajwadi Party of criminal elements, Afzal Ansari, president of the erstwhile Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED), which has merged into the SP, said on Saturday that his brother, Mukhtar Ansari, was now a member of the party and would contest the elections on SP ticket.

Mukhtar Ansari has been in jail since 2005 for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, which is a major reason that the CM was opposing the QED merger with the SP.

Afzal Ansari met state SP president Shivpal Yadav on Saturday and told reporters that as Mukhtar Ansari was a sitting MLA, he would contest on the SP symbol.

He also said that SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav would address a huge public rally in Mehmoodabad, Ghazipur, in November.