Shakeel Ahmad


Shakeel Ahmad was a member of the 12th and 14th Lok Sabha of India. He was a general secretary of the Indian National Congress. Currently he has been suspended from the party due to anti-party activities.

Early life

Ahmad was born to Shakoor Ahmad and Hajra Khatoon in Umgaon, Madhubani, Bihar. He is an M.B.B.S. from S.K. Medical College in Muzaffarpur. His father and his grandfather, the late Ahmad Ghafoor were freedom fighters as well as Congress MLAs. His father was a Congress MLA for five terms since 1952, and his grandfather was a Congress MLA in 1937.

Political career

Ahmad was first elected as MLA in 1985, and thereafter in 1990 and 2000. He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1998 and again in 2004. He also served as general secretary of the Indian National Congress Party.He served as Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Health in Bihar Government led by Rabri Devi. He was Minister of State in the Ministry of Communication & IT and Ministry of Home Affairs in the first Government of India, headed by Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister and formed in 2004. In March 2011, he was appointed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi as Party-In-Charge for the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal.
In June 2013, he was promoted as a member of the Congress Working Committee and was put in charge of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, as the National General Secretary.

Controversy

The Congress on 5th May 2019 Sunday suspended Shakeel Ahmad from the party for contesting as an Independent candidate from the Madhubani Lok Sabha 2019 constituency in Bihar against the party's decision. Which helped the BJP candidate in ensuring victory.
Along with him, Benipatti MLA Bhavana Jha was also suspended from the Congress party for anti-party activities. Benipatti also falls in the same parliamentary constituency.