Lucknow, Sep 13 (IANS): The political fortunes of mafia don-turned-politician seem to be taking a turn after the Bahujan Samaj Party announced that it would not give the ticket to the jailed don in the 2022 assembly polls.

While the AIMIM offered an election ticket to Mukhtar Ansari and then said that it would not put up its candidate against him if he contested from another party, the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) has now come out in support of the beleaguered MLA.

SBSP chief, Om Prakash Rajbhar, on Monday, described Mukhtar Ansari as the 'messiah' for the poor.

"Whether it is a BJP, SP, BSP, or Congress leader in Purvanchal, whoever wants to win the election, goes and seeks blessings from Mukhtar Ansari. He wins the election only after that. The poor, underprivileged and the leaders there consider him as a messiah and everyone knows this," he said.

He further said, "When Mukhtar Ansari joined BSP in 2017, Mayawati also said that he is the messiah of the poor. I am repeating her words. More than half of MPs in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly are criminals. Many people are pointing fingers against him because he is a Muslim. BJP, Congress and BSP should introspect on this issue."

Mukhtar Ansari, who has been in jail since 2005, is a five-term MLA from the Mau constituency.

BSP president Mayawati recently declared that Ansari will not be fielded by her party in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election. She claimed that her party would check criminalization of politics.

Interestingly, the BSP decision was a foregone conclusion because Mukhtar's brother, Sigbatullah Ansari, had joined the Samajwadi Party last month and it is a well-known fact that the Ansari brothers move together in UP politics.

Afzal Ansari, BSP MP from the Ghazipur Lok Sabha constituency, and Mukhtar Ansari BSP MLA from Mau, are bound to follow their brother into SP, sooner or later.