Mumbai, Oct 9 (IANS): The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has named 10 Muslim candidates to contest the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections in different parts of the state, including some who quit the Congress and joined the party.

The nominees: Ayaz Gulzar Molvi (Kalyan West in Thane), Mohammed Jaweed Ishaq (Aurangabad Central in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Alauddin Hyatchand Kazi (Sangli), Syed Sami Sahebjan (Parbhani) and Arif M. Patel (Shirol in Kolhapur).

The others are: Mohammed Afroz Mulla (Hadapsar in Pune), Shahejad Salim Khan (Malkapur in Buldhana), Khatib S. Natiqudin (Balapur, in Akola), Sayyad G. Nabi Sayyad (Gangapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), and Imtiyaz Jafar Nadaf (Man, in Satara.)

This is the second list announced by the VBA, after the first list (September 21) with 11 nominees including a transgender Shamibha B. Patil for the Raver (Jalgaon) assembly seat besides two women and a Muslim candidate.

Meanwhile, a large number of Muslims from the Congress led by Natiquddin and others joined the VBA, peeved that their original party failed to field a single Muslim candidate either for the Lok Sabha 2024 polls or the upcoming state Assembly elections.

“We have remained loyal to the Congress for generations, but certain recent developments have compelled us to reconsider our political stance. We had requested state Congress President Nana F. Patole about our participation, but were disappointed by his response,” claimed Natiquddin.

He contended that from Patole’s discussion, it appeared that the Congress had openly embraced the “Hindutva political strategy” in which there is no possibility of participation or equality for Muslims even in the 2024 Assembly polls.

Natiquddin alleged that the reason behind the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) not including Muslims in the electoral mainstream was Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray and his keenness to propagate the “ideology of Vedic Hindutva” to safeguard his vote-bank, predicting that (Thackeray) may even quit the MVA.

“However, we are more disappointed that the Congress embraced the Hindutva ideology and betrayed Muslims even after taking their votes in the past so many polls. Rahul Gandhi visited Kolhapur (October 5), but didn’t utter a word on the Vishalgad Fort riots in mid-July, nor did he bother their victims of that incident,” Natiquddin.

Accordingly, he said that only the VBA would be in a position to take the Muslims along into the political mainstream, make them politically strong and ensure their progress, and they decided to join the party in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday.

Natiquddin said that he is in touch with other important Muslim groups and organisations to solicit their support for the VBA in the interest of the minority community from the urban-rural centres.