India's nuke deal with US: How Atiq's key vote in 2008 helped save UPA govt

New Delhi: Six criminal-politicians, including Atiq Ahmad who was shot dead Saturday, were furloughed from different jails in just 48 hours with little fanfare in 2008, with a book on "Baahubalis" claiming their votes were crucial to save the embattled UPA government and India's civil nuclear deal with the US. The Opposition had brought a no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh dispensation and at stake was his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the nuclear deal. Among these six legislators, who collectively had over 100 criminal cases against their names, was the then Samajwadi Party's Lok Sabha MP Atiq Ahmad, who represented Allahabad's (now Prayagraj) Phulpur constituency.

The book -- "Baahubalis of Indian Politics: From Bullet to Ballot" -- authored by Rajesh Singh and published by Rupa Publications mentions how the gangster-politician had the distinction of being one of the musclemen who saved the UPA government from a collapse. The Left parties had withdrawn their outside support to the regime in mid-2008 over the government's decision to proceed with a civil nuclear deal. "The UPA had 228 members in the Lok Sabha and was short of 44 seats for a simple majority to overcome the crisis of confidence. Prime Minister Singh, however, expressed confidence that he would survive. It soon became evident as to where that confidence came from," Singh writes.

He notes that the Samajwadi Party extended support, as did Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) to the UPA while there were others, including the "Baahubali netas", who did their bit. "Forty-eight hours before the vote and with little fanfare, the government furloughed six of the nation's most prominent suspected lawbreakers -- collectively facing over 100 cases of kidnapping, murder, extortion, arson and more -- so that they could fulfil their constitutional duties as lawmakers," the book states. "One among them was Ateeq Ahmed, a Samajwadi Party lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh, with a conspicuous handlebar moustache and a penchant for safari suits.