Ajit Pawar’s 10% quota promise after Devendra Fadnavis’s ‘vote jihad’ remark

Days after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alleged that “vote jihad” was witnessed in the recent Lok Sabha elections in the state, his co-deputy and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said his party would reserve 10 per cent seats for minority candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls.
According to sources, Ajit Pawar’s NCP has managed to bag Anushakti Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Kagal, Bandra East and Kalwa-Mumbra Assembly constituencies to field Muslim candidates amid seat-sharing talks in the Mahayuti alliance. The grouping comprises the BJP, Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The NCP has also laid claim on Dhule, Bhiwandi, Mumbadevi, Malegaon and Beed constituencies to field probable Muslim candidates in these seats.
Most of the seats secured have sitting NCP MLAs, namely Nawab Malik from Anushakti Nagar and Hasan Mushrif from Kagal seats.
However, Nawab Malik is preparing to contest from Shivaji Nagar seat against Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Sana Malik, daughter of Nawab Malik, will replace him in the Anushakti Nagar seat.
Also, Zeeshan Siddique, a Congress MLA from the Bandra East seat, will soon join Ajit Pawar’s NCP, following in the footsteps of his father, Baba Siddique. While Nazeeb Mullah, an ex-corporatist from Thane corporation will be fielded against MLA of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, Jitendra Awhad in Kalwa-Mumbra Assembly constituency.
Likewise, Bhiwandi and Mumbadevi seats are claimed by both Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP. On the other hand, some local leaders from Samajwadi Party (SP) are set to join the NCP and can be fielded from Dhule and Malegaon.
Election to the 288-member Assembly is likely to be held in Maharashtra in November-December.
Targeting MVA, Devendra Fadnavis on Monday claimed “vote jihad” was witnessed in 14 of 48 constituencies in Maharashtra in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The MVA won 30 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP leader raked up “vote jihad” and referenced the outcome in the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency where the MVA candidate emerged victorious on account of “en masse voting in the Malegaon Central assembly segment against the BJP nominee in the fray”.
“Vote jihad was seen in Lok Sabha elections. In the Dhule constituency, the BJP candidate led with 1.90 lakh votes in five assembly seats. However, our candidate trailed by 1.94 lakh votes because of voting in the Malegaon Central assembly segment, losing the election by just 4,000 votes,” Fadnavis said.
Responding to Devendra Fadnavis’s remarks, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said the BJP leader should know there were Muslim warriors in the army of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
“Fadnavis is weak in history. There were Muslim warriors in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s army. He should apologise,” Nana Patole said.
Leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, suggested that Devendra Fadnavis’s remarks were politically motivated.
“The BJP only talks about jihad, mosque, Hindu-Muslim and Bharat-Pakistan. If they do not use these four words, their candidates will lose deposits in the election. This is a pattern used by the BJP people,” he alleged.