taslimuddin seemanchal gandhi is a political enigma starting his political graph with a short stint in panchayatlevel politics in the early 60s taslimuddin has stayed in the political firmament like no one else in the political backwaters in purnia so much so that his litany of admirers would like to dub him as seemanchal gandhiwhichever side of the political spectrum he may be every political adversary and detractor has extended olive branch to him at one or the other point of time he still wields considerable political clout in the region loosely known as seemanchal comprising purnia araria kishanganj and katihar he is indisputably a very powerful persona in the political domain of purnia araria katihar kishanganjborn in a humble peasant family in a nondescript village of sisona jokihat in araria district taslimuddin was elected mla as well as mp on seven and five occasions respectively he is a political maverick he has crisscrossed the political chessboard due to the circumstances he faced shedding political affiliations proved his ability to win the electiontaslimuddin is the only political figure who has contested from araria jokihat and kishanganj assembly segments and kishanganj purneaararia parliamentary constituencies he was elected mp from purnia on a janata dal ticket in 1989 however when former prime minister vishwanath pratap singh denied him party symbol after allotting the kishanganj seat in 1991 and chose syed shahabuddin as the jd nominee at the last moment taslimuddin threw a challenge at them by fielding himself as an independent he could not win the seat though at that termhe however bounced back by winning the jokihat seat in 1995 as samajwadi party nominee he again won the kishanganj parliamentary seat in 1996 appointed junior home minister as mos home in the deve gowda government taslimuddin again won in 1998 ls polls from kishanganj on an rjd ticket defeating bjps shahnawaz hussain but he conceded the seat to shahnawaz in 1999 only to win back the seat from shahnawaz in 2004 he was soon appointed a union minister of state in the ministry of agriculture india in upa 1 he lost the 2009 ls polls from kishanganj in 2014 ls he fought on rjd ticket from araria ls defeated his nearest rival from bjp by this win he has proved that he is the political stalwart of seemanchal regionacerbic and sharp tongueed taslimuddin has an altogether different political lexicon if he has cocked a snook at rjd chief lalu prasad by snapping ties with the rjd and switching over to lalus political rival nitish kumar he even refused the post of parliamentary secretary offered by karpoori thakur he also hobnobbed with former prime minister chandra shekhar when they dabbled in the movement for democracy in nepaltaslimuddin has a great penchant for literary jamborees mushiaras and cultural soirees he has enormous respect for litterateurs poets and men with literary flavor and loves to bask in the company of literati he sponsors poor student for their higher studiestaslimuddin said my lack of knowledge of english since he was from poor family could not study in convent english medium was a great impediment otherwise i was always comfortable with bureaucrats and otherstaslimuddin in his recent interview said i have never compromised on my principles and will fight tooth and nail for upliftment of poor and the deprived from 1969 to 1996 he was elected to the bihar legislative assembly six times in between in 1989 he became a member of the 9th lok sabha he has been a member of the 11th 1996 12th1998 and 14th lok sabhas 2004 16th lok sabha 2014