Maharashtra polls: NCP chief Ajit Pawar campaigns for Nawab Malik, his daughter Sana

Ajit Pawar during a rally. Pic/Sana Malik`s PR

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Aijt Pawar on Thursday campaigned for his party candidates Nawab Malik and the latter's daughter Sana Malik in Mumbai, the PTI reported.

Nawab Malik and his daughter Sana Malik are contesting the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly election 2024 from eastern Mumbai.

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Nawab Malik, former state minority affairs minister and Anushaktinagar MLA, is NCP's nominee from Mankhurd-Shivajinagar assembly constituency, while Sana is NCP candidate from Anushaktinagar.

NCP's ruling ally BJP has opposed Nawab Malik's candidature, over his alleged links with gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

Flanked by Nawab Malik and Sana, Ajit Pawar rode in an open jeep in a rally in Mumbai, urging people to vote for the Malik father-daughter duo, as per the PTI.

Arrested in February 2022 in connection with a money laundering case, Nawab Mailk was released on bail in August 2023.

BJP leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is among the ruling alliance leaders who had opposed fielding him for the assembly polls.

People of Maharashtra do not like it: Ajit on Yogi's 'batenge to katenge' remark

Meanwhile, a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reiterated his slogan "batenge to katenge" at a poll rally in Maharashtra, BJP ally and Ajit Pawar on Thursday said that the people of the state do not appreciate such remarks, according to the PTI.

People of Maharashtra have always strived to maintain communal harmony, said Ajit Pawar.

"Maharashtra belongs to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj and Mahatma Phule. You do not compare Maharashtra with other states, Maharashtra's people do not like this," Ajit Pawar told reporters when asked about CM Yogi Adityanath's remarks, as per the PTI.

Shivaji Maharaj's teaching was to take all sections of society along, he said.

"When people from other states come here, they speak keeping their people in mind, but Maharashtra has never accepted it and it has been the history of all the elections here," the NCP chief further said.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Washim in eastern Maharashtra for the November 20 assembly elections, Adityanath used his famous slogan .

"I am taking inspiration from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and appealing you to not get divided, because whenever we get divided, we perish," he said, the news agency reported.

(with PTI inputs)