Saleem Iqbal Shervani

Who is Saleem Iqbal Shervani?

Saleem Iqbal Shervani is an Indian politician who has been with Indian National Congress for most of his career. He represented Badaun constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas. A close ally of Rajiv Gandhi, he was the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare from 1996 to 1997 and the Union Minister of State for External Affairs from 1997 to 1998 in the government led by the prime minister I.K. Gujral.

Shervani hails from a wealthy Pathan industrialist family of Allahabad. He is the owner of Neoli Sugar factory and president of Krishi Inter College. The Shervani family has a close association Indira Gandhi and his father, and he had gone to Rajiv Gandhi to pay condolences, when Rajiv insisted that he fight the elections. Eventually the Badayun constituency was identified for him, and he won several elections there.

Salim Sherwani left Congress to join the Samajwadi Party, in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition. However, in the Indian general election in Uttar Pradesh, 2009, the Samajwadi Party denied him a ticket in order to accommodate Mulayam Singh Yadav's nephew Dharmendra Yadav. Shervani then re-joined the Congress. Fighting the election from Badayun against leaders like the mafia don DP Yadav, he came up third, losing to Dharmendra Yadav by 40 thousand votes.