Congress leader questions party for not fielding Muslim candidates. BJP reacts

Reacting to senior Congress leader Muhammed Arif ‘Naseem’ Khan’s decision to not campaign for the party in Maharashtra, Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh has claimed that there is a fight going on within the INDIA bloc. Recently, Khan resigned from the campaign committee of the Congress after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra didn’t field a single Muslim candidate in the Lok Sabha election 2024.
“When Congress believes that they will get all the votes of Muslims, then why aren’t they giving tickets to them? There’s a fight going on within the (INDIA) alliance,” said Singh as quoted by news agency PTI.
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Miffed over Muslims not getting a ticket in any of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, Khan wrote a letter to party president Mallikarjun Kharge and informed him about his decision to not campaign in the polls.
“From a total of 48 seats in Maharashtra, MVA has not nominated a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra,” he stated in the letter.
Khan said that many Muslim organisations, leaders, and party workers in Maharashtra were expecting Congress to field at least one candidate but “unfortunately” the party 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.
“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,” he further added in the letter.
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Notably, the MVA coalition in Maharashtra includes the Congress Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). As per their seat-sharing arrangement in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha election 2024, Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest 21 seats, Congress will fight on 17 seats and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) will put up candidates in 10 seats.
Voting for the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases from April 19 to May 20. The results will be declared on June 4.