BJP’s Azamgarh candidate: History-sheeter Ramakant Yadav

Ramakant is one of the renowned criminals in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Around 17 criminal cases are still pending against him,including those under Gangster Act and Goonda Act. The most well-known among this is the attack on Chief Minister Mayawati at the state guesthouse in 1995.

According to reports,Ramakant shot to fame in the mid 80’s,when he had some 34 cases lodged against him in various police stations across Azamgarh,apart from a few in Gorakhpur and Jaunpur districts too.

He fought the last Lok Sabha polls in 2004 from Azamgarh,which he won on a BSP ticket,but resigned and joined the BJP in 2008. In the 2008 Azamgarh by-poll,Yadav,however,lost to BSP’s Akbar Ahmed Dumpy.

Station Officer of Deedarganj police station Gyaneshwar Mishra said: “He is one of the most notorious persons in the area. In fact,he and his brothers have been involved in a large number of cases of land grabbing.”

Mishra said while in some of the cases,Ramakant has managed to go scot-free,in other cases the party concerned has agreed for a compromise.

Justifying his candidature,party officials said the party felt that he has not been involved in any criminal activities since he joined the BJP a year ago.

Talking to The Indian Express,Kalraj Mishra said Ramakant’s candidature was a unanimous decision.

“Ever since he has been with the BJP,he has not had a single case lodged against him,” said Mishra.

On the pending cases against him,Mishra said: “The only information that we have about his cases is the state guesthouse case,which is politically motivated. We have heard that his history-sheet does exist any longer.”

Family favour?
Even though the BJP has been claiming that the party is not giving tickets on the basis of “parivarvaad” and is selecting only candidates,who are potential winners. Anurag Singh’s nomination,however,from Mirzapur constituency seems to be going against the party’s philosophy. Anurag Singh is the son of Om Prakash Singh,leader of the Vidhan Mandal Dal. According to party insiders,the ticket has been given not just to please Singh,but also to woo the backward class following Kalyan Singh’s exit from the party.