Mumbai:

Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Ashish Shelar said on Thursday that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Ajit Pawar should not have given a ticket to Nawab Malik, considering the serious allegations against him. Ashish Shelar stated that the BJP cannot associate with such individuals.

Nawab Malik is the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) candidate from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar.

In an interview with ANI, Ashish Shelar emphasised, “Ajit Pawar should not have given him a ticket; many in Maharashtra think this way. The serious allegations and chargesheet against him are unacceptable to Maharashtra… The BJP has made its stance clear. Maharashtra opposes an international terrorist like Dawood. Despite this, if he has been given a ticket, the BJP cannot associate with such people. We won’t campaign for this candidate. Instead, we’ll support the candidate running against him.”

He further expressed confidence in Ajit Pawar’s popularity in Baramati, predicting a comfortable win for him.

“I visited Baramati and saw that Ajit Pawar’s work there is commendable. He delivers on his promises, which has built his reputation across Maharashtra. I believe his victory will be straightforward,” he remarked.

Targeting the opposition alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Mumbai BJP Chief asserted that it no longer holds any significance.

“The Maha Vikas Aghadi as an entity no longer exists. They don’t listen to each other. There is conflict between Nana Patole and Sanjay Raut. Congress itself has splintered into three factions. Soon, they will all disintegrate,” Ashish Shelar said.

He added, “Uddhav Thackeray has never won an election on his own merit. He always relies on others. Those who rely on others should refrain from criticising other leaders.”

Ashish Shelar also reflected on the BJP’s defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, acknowledging that internal mistakes had contributed to the outcome.

“In the Lok Sabha elections, we did not secure the expected votes, which was disappointing. The Maharashtra BJP made mistakes, but we have corrected them. The disillusionment among our workers has now transformed into enthusiasm, especially after the Haryana elections. Congress’s so-called ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’ was actually a ‘Nafrat ki Dukaan’ that could only work once, and that has already happened,” he said.

He noted that the current electoral atmosphere is distinct from that of the last Lok Sabha elections, adding, “The public is now satisfied… Mahayuti will form the government with a comfortable majority.”

Discussing the Worli seat, Ashish Shelar emphasised that the Mahayuti candidate, Milind Deora, has a better understanding of the constituency than MVA candidate Aaditya Thackeray.

“Milind Deora knows Worli better than Aaditya Thackeray. He served as an MP there and has known the area since his father’s time. Aaditya Thackeray lives in Bandra but contests elections in Worli. The BJP will put its full strength behind ensuring Milind Deora’s victory,” he added.

The Mumbai BJP Chief also clarified that there is no dispute over the Chief Ministerial candidate.

“We will contest under the leadership of Eknath Shinde, and after the elections, all three parties will come together to decide on the Chief Ministerial face,” he said.

The BJP is currently in alliance with Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena under the Mahayuti banner.

The Assembly elections for the 288 Maharashtra constituencies will take place in a single phase on 20 November, with vote counting scheduled for 23 November.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena 56, and Congress 44. In 2014, the BJP secured 122 seats, Shiv Sena 63, and Congress 42.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Nawab Malik, now the official candidate of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, told NDTV today that the allegations now levelled at him were “irresponsible” and the verdicts in the cases would vindicate him. His response was to the remarks of senior BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who had called him a “terrorist”.

“These are irresponsible statements. Nawab Malik was never a terrorist nor was ever with any terrorist or any criminal. Nawab Malik has been in politics in this country for 50 years,” Mr Malik told NDTV in an exclusive interview. 

Some people think giving such comments would help increase their vote bank but it actually has the opposite effect, he said.

“Now the matter is sub judice, so I can’t obviously discuss it. Once the verdict comes, everything will be clear,” he added.

Mr Malik was arrested by central agencies in an alleged  money laundering case involving mafia don Dawood Ibrahim and his associates Chhota Shakeel and Tigar Memon. He is currently out on bail.

The BJP had refused to support his candidature, citing the case against him. 

“We won’t endorse anyone who’s related to any Dawood or Dawood related case,” Maharashtra BJP chief Ashish Shelar had said yesterday, after Ajit Pawar’s last-minute backing fr Mr Malik, he said the BJP would not campaign for him.

“Nawab Malik is a terrorist who tried to break India into pieces. He is Dawood’s agent and Ajit Pawar’s NCP has betrayed the country by giving ticket to Nawab Malik,” Kirit Somaiyya later said. 

Mr Malik, who had filed two nominations yesterday – one of them as an Independent and the other as a member of the NCP, to day said he ws not keen on contesting this time. 

“I have been a 5-term MLA and have been a minister 6 times. I did not want to contest the election,” he said, explaining that he changed his mind because of appeals from the people of Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar.

Mumbai:

The BJP today issued a scathing criticism of the candidature of Nawab Malik, one of the key leaders of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, who was backed by the party at the last minute for the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat in the coming assembly election in Maharashtra. Mr Malik, accused in an alleged money laundering case involving mafia don Dawood Ibrahim and his associates Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon, had filed two nominations. One of these was as a member of the NCP and the other as an Independent. But after the party backing, he called himself the official candidate.

“The BJP’s stance is very clear. All the parties in the alliance should decide their own candidate,” said the party’s Maharashtra unit chief Ashish Shelar later today.  

“The issue is only about Nawab Malik’s official candidature from NCP. Devendra Fadnavis has time and again clarified the stance of the party, I say it again: The BJP will not campaign for Nawab Malik. There is no question of us campaigning for him, because we won’t endorse anyone who’s related to any Dawood or Dawood related case,” he added, underscoring the reservations they expressed earlier as well. 

But the party gave the benefit of the doubt to Mr Malik’s daughter Sana Malik, who is the NCP’s official candidate from the Anushakti Nagar seat, where her father is the sitting MLA. 

“As long as we don’t get any proof and information about her, all Mahayuti candidates are BJP’s candidates,” Mr Shelar said. 

NCP sources said there has been BJP pressure on Ajit Pawar not to give nomination to Nawab Malik. But Mr Pawar has also been facing criticism from closer quarters – his partymen, who feel that he has been compromising a little too much.

In the Lok Sabha election, the NCP was allowed to contest only four seats. In the assembly polls, they got the smallest share of Maharashtra’s 288 seats – this even after bringing the same number of MLAs as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to the ruling alliance.

Sources indicated that Mr Pawar had to assert himself somewhere – and this was an apt case since Nawab Malik is one of the top five leaders of his party. Mr Malik is a prominent face in the Muslim community and the loss of their support had cost the party a lot during the Lok Sabha election. 

The NCP traditionally had good relations with the Muslim community and Pawar Junior’s alliance with the BJP has eroded this base.

But in view of the alliance and the BJP’s reservations, sources said, the party did not make its support to Nawab Malik public till the last moment – that was at 2.55 pm, five minutes before the expiry of the deadline.

Mr Malik’s big rival from Mankhurd, Samajwadi Party’s three-time sitting MLA Abu Azmi, has said the BJP’s reservations are an eyewash. His presence in the contest is expected to split the Muslim vote, if not beat the SP candidate outright.  

That would play into the hands of the ruling alliance. The BJPs’ Kirit Somaiya has posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Shiv Sena’s Suresh Krishna Patil is its official candidate.  

“Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Legislative Assembly Shiv Sena candidate Suresh Krishnarao Patil (‘ popularly known as ‘Bullet Patil’) came to my office this evening. I assured him of my full support and wished him well,” read his message posted this evening.
 

Mumbai:

Nawab Malik, former Maharashtra minister and a leader of NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction, filed two nomination forms for Mumbai’s Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Assembly seat today, setting off high drama as many wondered if a pre-poll shocker is on the cards.

The senior leader filed two nomination forms, one as a candidate of NCP (Ajit Pawar) and another as an Independent. The move sparked a buzz. Later in the day, however, Mr Malik said he is NCP’s official candidate. “Today, I filed a nomination from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Vidhan Sabha constituency as NCP candidate. I filed the form as an Independent candidate too. But the party has sent the AB form and we submitted it at 2.55 pm. Now I am an official candidate for NCP,” he said.

“I am very thankful to Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare. They have confidence in me… A huge number of voters will support me… I am very confident we will win Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar constituency this time,” Mr Malik said.

Earlier, the senior politician said the party’s AB form had not been submitted. “If the AB form is submitted in time, I will contest as a party candidate. If not, I will fight independently as per the people’s wish,” he said.

An AB form is submitted by a political party, confirming its candidate for a particular seat.

Nawab Malik currently represents Anushakti Nagar seat in Mumbai. This time, Ajit Pawar’s NCP has fielded his daughter Sana Malik from this seat. Sana Malik is up against Fahad Ahmed, who recently joined the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar. Fahad Ahmed is the husband of actor Swara Bhasker.

In the run-up to the November 20 election, Mr Malik had been making a pitch for a poll pass. His remarks were widely seen as attempts to build pressure on the leadership to ensure he gets a ticket. Earlier, he had said people had urged him to contest polls from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar.

“I will be filing my nomination on October 29 from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Assembly constituency. The public has urged me to contest elections from here. The public is very upset with the hooliganism and drug business going on in Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar. The public wants change and I will be contesting the elections from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar and will surely win…I don’t care who is opposing me, the public is supporting me,” he said.

The Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat is a stronghold of Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi, who has been winning it since 2009.

Nawab Malik faces resistance within the Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar).

The BJP has said it is against his candidature. “We will not accept giving a ticket to someone linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim,” Ashish Shelar, Mumbai BJP chief, said last week. “We won’t support Malik and will have a different stand,” he added.

Mr Malik was a minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and was arrested in 2022 in an NIA case against Dawood and his associates, including Chhota Shakeel and Tigar Memon. He was granted bail on medical grounds in July this year. He sided with the Ajit Pawar-led faction after the NCP split.

Mumbai:

Nawab Malik, leader of Nationalist Congress Party’s Ajit Pawar faction and a big face in Maharashtra politics, has announced that he will contest from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar – where Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi is the three-time sitting legislator. The Samajwadi Party is still waiting for a decision on seat sharing from the Maha Vikas Aghadi. It had asked for two seats and the party is far from pleased about the delay. Abu Azmi has given several deadlines to the MVA, but is yet to act on it.

Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, part of the North East Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, is a Muslim-dominated area. So while Abu Azmi is confident, if Nawab Malik files nomination, it may no longer be an easy election for the SP candidate.

Nawab Malik’s party has been silent about his candidature, although it has announced 49 candidates already. There is still no clarity on how many seats each party of the ruling alliance is contesting.

Sources in the BJP have indicated that the party is not in favour of candidates accused in criminal cases. Many believe his ticket was cut by NCP due to the BJP opposition, which has created sympathy for him among the Muslim voters, who form a substantial chunk of the electorate.

Nawab Malik was arrested in February 2022 by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case involving mafia don Dawood Ibrahim and his associates. He was granted bail in July by the Supreme Court on health grounds.

In this backdrop, Mr Malik’s comments on has candidature has triggered speculation on whether he would be backed by his party or contest as Independent.

“I will be filing my nomination on October 29 from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Assembly constituency,’ Mr Malik had said. “The public has urged me to contest elections from here. The public is very upset with the hooliganism and drug business which is going on in Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar… I don’t care who is opposing me, the public is supporting me and I will contest the elections,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Mr Azmi has remarked that Nawab Malik’s candidature is a BJP ploy and their outward reluctance to field him just an eyewash. Many say his presence in the contest will split the Muslim vote, and help the BJP/Sena/NCP candidate win. 

In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the North East Mumbai seat was won by Sanjay Patil of Sharad Pawar’s faction of the NCP. The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP (Ajit Pawar) alliance or the Mahayuti had fielded Mihir Kotecha.

Nawab Malik’s daughter Sana Malik is a NCP (Ajit Pawar) candidate from the Anushaktinagar seat. She will contest against Fahad Ahmed of Sharad Pawar’s NCP on this seat. Fahad is the husband of film actress Swara Bhaskar.

Polling for Maharashtra assembly elections will be held in one phase on November 20. Counting of votes will be done on November 23.