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According to a CBI chargesheet filed in 2015, Aman strangled his wife Sara Singh to death. He is currently out on bail.The former MLA is the son of ex-Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi (66), who was convicted along with his wife Madhumani Tripathi (61) for the murder of poet Madhumita Shukla. The couple were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 but were released by the UP government in August last year.Earlier this month, a Basti district court ordered authorities to attach the former minister’s properties after he failed to appear in a separate, 22-year-old abduction case.Though Aman has joined the Congress, post his parents’ release, he had showered praises on UP CM Yogi Adityanath and even referred to his relationship with him “as family”. This led to speculation that Aman was looking to join the BJP.A BJP leader admitted that the former MLA had approached them but could not be inducted due to Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. “He tried to join the BJP but did not as the party was not inclined to field him from the Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat. Hence, he went into the Congress and INDIA fold,” the leader said.The former MLA maintained that the UP CM was like “his guardian”. “However, our ideologies are different. We share personal relations but these are different from politics. I joined the Congress due to its ideology,” Aman said.Aman won the 2017 Assembly elections from his hometown Nautanwa, contesting as an Independent against arch-rival and Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Kunwar Kaushal Singh even amid the BJP wave, where the party secured 312 of the 403 seats.The BJP was quick to target the Congress over the move. “The Congress is once again shielding mafias and criminals. Why have they inducted a member of a family with a criminal background? The person in question has been accused of killing his wife,” BJP state spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said.Aman countered the BJP’s allegations saying that if he was a criminal, who was Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (the WFI chief accused of sexual harassment and a BJP MP). “Why wasn’t he investigated? There are so many MPs and MLAs of the BJP who are undertrials. I am innocent until proven guilty,” he said.However, several Congress leaders too expressed surprise at Aman’s induction. A senior Congress leader said state unit leaders were not even aware about it. “We were also surprised. His induction happened in Delhi,” the leader said.AICC general secretary in-charge of UP Avinash Pande claimed that Aman joined the party as “he wanted to help it”. “I will not comment on what the BJP has to say about it,” he told The Indian Express.However, party leaders say it is unlikely that the former MLA would be fielded in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as Pharenda MLA Virendra Chaudhary is being seen as the frontrunner. “Chaudhary should be nominated (for the Maharajganj seat) but a final call will be taken by the central leadership,” the leader said.Aman said he had told the Congress that he was the only one who could win the Maharajganj seat. “They have not made any promise and will take a call (on my candidature),” he said.Another name doing the rounds for the Maharajganj seat was of Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, who contested in 2019 and ended third. However, sources said she has decided not to re-contest the seat in the upcoming polls. Shrinate’s father Harsh Vardhan won the Maharajganj seat in 2009 as a Congress nominee.