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Behind bars for over a decade, Amarmani still holds sway over east UP politics
A four-term MLA, Amarmani Tripathi contested the 2007 assembly election on a Samajwadi Party ticket from jail and defeated his opponent comfortably. He is currently serving life term in the poet Madhumita Shukla murder case of 2003.
The shadow of gangster-turned-politician Amarmani Tripathi still looms large in Maharajganj district of eastern Uttar Pradesh even if he has been behind bars for over a decade now serving life term in the poet Madhumita Shukla murder case of 2003.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Monday declared his son Amanmani Tripathi, an independent MLA from Nautanwa assembly constituency in Maharajganj district, as the party candidate from the seat. Amanmani, who is out on bail in the murder case of his wife and joined the BSP on Monday itself, has launched his election campaign in Nautanwa.
Amanmani getting a BSP ticket surprised political observers as the party chief Mayawati had earlier announced that her party will not field tainted candidates, criminals and Mafiosi in the 2022 UP assembly election.
“The changed political scenario in eastern Uttar Pradesh after the family of Hari Shankar Tiwari, which is known for muscle power and enjoys influence over the Brahmin community in the region, defected to the Samajwadi Party forced the BSP chief to give ticket to Amanmani Tripathi,” said political observer SK Singh.
“To counter Tiwari’s influence over Brahmin community and his muscle power, the BSP gave ticket to Amanmani whose family holds similar sway in the region. Although he is behind bars, the machinery of Amarmani’s supporters is active in the region. He also enjoys a considerable support among the Brahmin community,” he added.
A four-term MLA, Amarmani contested the 2007 assembly election on a Samajwadi Party ticket from jail and defeated his opponent comfortably. He started his political career with the Communist Party of India and later joined the Congress. He was a minister in the Kalyan Singh government in 1997, in the Ram Prakash Gupta government in 1999, in the Rajnath Singh government in 2000 and in the Mayawati government in 2002. Once a close aide of Harishankar Tiwari, he parted ways to form a separate group, Singh added.
Amarmani also challenged the might of the Mafiosi belonging to the Thakur community. He contested the assembly election in the 1980s against Virendra Pratap Shahi who was at that time a terror in eastern UP. Though he lost the election, he became a rallying point for the Brahmins terrorised by Shahi’s gang, he said.
On the other hand, his son Amanmani contested the 2012 assembly election on an SP ticket but lost in a close contest to his bête noire Kaushal Singh alias Munna Singh who was contesting on a Congress ticket. Riding on his father’s popularity, he won the seat as an independent candidate in the 2017 assembly election.
My family has a long association with the BSP. Along with the works done by the four term BSP government under party chief Mayawati, I will also highlight the development projects launched in the area by my father and I as an MLA during the election campaign, Amanmani said.
