The BSP has succeeded in winning over jailed Samajwadi Party MP Atiq Ahmad in its fight against the UPA Government, confirmed BSP sources on Thursday. “Atiq bhai is now with the BSP and we all will support him,” said the politician’s confidant Dasha Nand Patel. Already, three SP MPs, Munawwar Hasan, Jai Prakash Rawat and Raj Narayan Budholia, have declared that they will defy the party whip to vote against the UPA.While the details of the BSP’s deal with Atiq Ahmed—who was suspended by the SP after he was imprisoned for threatening a witness in a murder case—are not known, senior SP leader and MP from Allahabad Reoti Raman Singh claimed that “Atiq will join BSP on July 20” and that it was a “Rs 100 crore deal with Mayawati and Atiq”.Now, there are already indications that the Allahabad administration has softened its stance towards Atiq and even allowed him to remain in Naini jail—which he had been requesting for a while — on Wednesday after a court appearance instead of sending him back to Mainpuri. Another sign of the Government’s leniency towards Atiq is the halt to the campaign to seize his properties in UP and Delhi. Sources said the campaign was stopped after his wife met some top BSP leaders in Lucknow last week.
