VBA takes lead in naming Muslim candidates

Before the BJP and Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA could announce their candidate for the Mumbai NorthCentral Lok Sabha seat where the Muslim voters have the largest presence in the city the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi VBA has again fielded a Muslim Abul Hasan Khan Meanwhile former IPS officer Abdur Rahman will lead the VBA charge in Dhule in North MaharashtraIn 2019 the VBArsquos Abdur Rahman Anjaria couldnrsquot do much damage as he could get only 33703 votes as BJPrsquos Poonam Mahajan 486 lakh votes took a good winning lead against Congress nominee Priya Dutt 356 lakh votes Abul Hasan Khan was VBArsquos nominee in the 2019 Assembly elections from Chandivli which is part of Mumbai NorthCentral He had got 8876 votes more than enough to cause the defeat of another Muslim in the contest Congressrsquos Arief Naseem Khan who lost to the undivided Shiv Senarsquos Dilip Lande by only 409 votesScheduled for voting on May 20 the national parties in the fray have some more time to declare their respective candidates In MVA the Congress is expected to get this seat Actor Swara Bhaskar actorturnedpolitician Rab Babbar and state Congress working president Arif Naseem Khan are the Congress probables The BJP seems to be delaying the announcement for reasons other than seatsharing issues The Shinde Sena hasnrsquot claimed this constituency Speculators say that incumbent MP Poonam Mahajanrsquos return to the electoral field had hit a snagWhat makes Mumbai NorthCentral significant is the mix of voters It comprises six Assembly segmentsmdashBandra West Bandra East Kalina Kurla Chandivali and Vile Parle It houses the cityrsquos biggest government employeesrsquo residential colony along with the plush residences of Bollywood stars international cricketers and affluent personalities It also has slums mostly housing poor Muslims and Hindus Christians and Jains have a good presence here Buddhists and other scheduled castes have a good population The constituency is home to the Shiv SenaUBT president Uddhav Thackeray and RPIA president and Union minister of state Ramdas AthawaleExIPS for DhuleVBA has also catered to the Muslim communityrsquos demand for candidature in the Dhule constituency that includes Malegaon and other sensitive places ExIPS officer Abdur Rahman will lead the VBA charge here in North Maharashtrarsquos part which is known as Khandesh Rahman had quit the service five years ago in protest of the Citizenship Amendment ActSources said Rahman had approached the Congress leadership for the candidature in Dhule but to no avail Dhule has not been cleared in seatsharing talks BJP has repeated former minister of state Dr Subhash Bhamre ldquoThe party that raises the voices of the oppressed and suppressed people has given me an opportunity I will try to be the voice of the deprived such as the SCs STs OBCs Muslims and other minorities applying all my energy power and strengthrdquo said the IIT Kanpur alumnusScare for PranitiVBA has put its candidates in SolapurSC where Prakash Ambedkar as a candidate had split votes to cause senior Congressman Sushilkumar Shindersquos defeat in 2019 This time Shindersquos MLA daughter Praniti is contesting VBArsquos Rahul Gaikwad will be seen in a triangular fight with Praniti and BJPrsquos Ram SatputeIn 2019 Ambedkar received 170 lakh votes and Shinde got 366 lakh votes BJPrsquos Jaisiddheshwar Swami 524 lakh votes had emerged winner The division of votes had given the BJP a clear advantageVBA also declared candidates for Hingoli LaturSC Madha Satara Hatkangale Raver Jalna and RatnagiriSindhudurg Earlier the party had named eight candidates including Ambedkar from Akola where Congress in a fitting reply to VBA chief has given a candidate Dr Abhay Patil to make it a triangular contest The VBA has extended support to the Congress in Nagpur To date the VBA which is labeled as BJPrsquos lsquoTeam Brsquo has announced 19 candidates Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats19No of candidates announced by VBA