Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Amid the high-decibel Lok Sabha election campaign, Congress has received another blow from one of its party leaders who has made some serious allegations against the grand old party. Mohammad Arif Naseem Khan, former cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government and working president of the party, left the party over the party’s ‘unfair’ treatment of the Muslim community.
In his letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Khan expressed his inability to campaign for the party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Khan said he would not campaign in the third, fourth and fifth phases as the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance has not fielded a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra, which has a total of 48 seats.
“Many Muslim organizations, leaders and party workers from across Maharashtra were expecting the Congress to nominate at least one candidate, but unfortunately, the Congress has not nominated even a single Muslim candidate,” Khan said. He said he is now asking, “Congress wants Muslim votes…why not candidates?”
Khan said he was upset with the ‘unfair decision of the party’.
Congress is contesting the elections in alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). Congress has got 17 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats. Khan was reportedly upset over not getting the Lok Sabha ticket from Mumbai North Central, from where the party had fielded city unit president Varsha Gaikwad.
His comments are likely to make the fight tough for the party which is already facing allegations of appeasement from the BJP-led NDA. During the current election campaign, BJP leaders like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath have accused the Congress of working to appease minorities, especially Muslims. Congress has denied the allegations and said that the aim of its manifesto is the welfare of all sections of the society.