Former MP Lovely Anand, wife of jailed mafia don-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, on Friday joined the Congress at the partys Bihar headquarters here.
Her induction, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, has triggered speculation that she might be considered for a Lok Sabha party ticket, though Gohil asserted Anand has returned to the Congress without laying down any conditions and she will get due respect here.
Anand had made a sensational debut when she won a by-election for Vaishali Lok Sabha seat in 1994 defeating two-time MP Kishori Sinha whose husband Satyendra Narayan Sinha had formerly been a Chief Minister of Bihar and a Union minister.
Her husband, who has represented Sheohar parliamentary seat twice, had floated his own outfit Bihar Peoples Party in the 1990s which merged with the Congress in 2004.
Lovely Anand had unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and the state assembly elections the following year on a Congress ticket and in 2014 she quit the party alleging that she was being neglected and contested from Sheohar as a Samajwadi Party candidate but ended up losing her deposit.
The couple were named as accused in the lynching of IAS officer and then the District Magistrate of Gopalganj G Krishnaiah, who was beaten to death by a mob in Muzaffarpur district which was violently protesting the murder of local hitman Chhotan Shukla.
While Lovely was later acquitted for want of evidence, her husband was awarded death sentence by the trial court which was commuted to imprisonment for life by the Patna High Court. His conviction and life sentence were later upheld by the Supreme Court.
Anand Mohan Singh had fashioned himself after the mythical British outlaw Robin Hood and earned notoriety extending beyond the state in the 1990s by posing for photographs holding a gun in the midst of supporters armed to the teeth.
Despite being behind bars and away from public eye for many years, he is said to enjoy popularity among Rajputs of the Kosi region.
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