Congress leader Mohammed Arif (Naseem) Khan on Friday quit as a star campaigner of the party for the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha elections protesting over MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) nominations, having no Muslim candidate in Maharashtra.
"From a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, MVA has not nominated a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra," Arif stated in the letter.
The senior Congress leader said that, "Many Muslim organizations, leaders, and party workers from all over Maharashtra were expecting Congress to at least nominate 1 candidate but "unfortunately" the Congress hasn't nominated a single Muslim candidate."
"Now they are asking...Congress ko Muslim vote chahiye...candidate kyu nahi (Congress wants Muslim votes, but why not candidates)?"
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Congress leader Mohammed Arif (Naseem) Khan on Friday quit as a star campaigner of the party for the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha elections protesting over MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) nominations, having no Muslim candidate in Maharashtra.
Expressing his dissatisfaction with paty's unfair decision, Khan wrote a letter to Congress president, he thanked Mallikarjun Kharge for naming him as one of the star campaigners for the polls and said that he won't be campaigning for the party in the remaining phases of Lok Sabha elections.
"From a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, MVA has not nominated a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra," Arif stated in the letter.
The senior Congress leader said that, "Many Muslim organizations, leaders, and party workers from all over Maharashtra were expecting Congress to at least nominate 1 candidate but "unfortunately" the Congress hasn't nominated a single Muslim candidate."
"Now they are asking...Congress ko Muslim vote chahiye...candidate kyu nahi (Congress wants Muslim votes, but why not candidates)?" Khan stated.
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Khan further said that before this, he fulfilled his election responsibilities in several states — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra and others — whenever the party asked him to.
"Due to all these reasons, I will not be able to face and I have no answers to the Muslims and other Muslim organizations in Maharashtra who always raise this issue...Therefore, I have decided not to campaign for the party during the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and also resign from the campaign committee of the Maharashtra Lok Sabha election 2024," the letter further added.
Earlier on Thursday, the Muslim Voter Council of India (MVCI) wrote a letter to Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Chandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and expressed their "disappointment" over not fielding Muslim candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, news agency ANI reported.
"After Rahul Gandhi did Nyay Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and the second yatra from Assam to Bombay, trust grew among the secular people that the country was going to get a good leadership because of Congress's alliance with opposition parties, but when tickets were distributed... I am saying this with great disappointment that out of 48 seats in Maharashtra, the INDIA bloc and its alliance Maha Vikas Agadi have not yet announced the names of Muslim candidates till now," Adbul Bari Khan, Chief Convenor, of the MVCI told ANI.
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