Maharashtra Elections 2024: Nawab Malik Predicts Who Will Be Kingmaker In Maharashtra Polls

Mumbai: Forward of the much-anticipated Maharashtra meeting elections, Nationalist Congress Celebration (NCP) chief Nawab Malik predicted that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will emerge because the kingmaker within the subsequent authorities formation within the state.

Malik stated that it is going to be a neck-and-neck battle in Maharashtra, asserting that no social gathering will get a transparent majority.

“It’s a neck-and-neck battle in Maharashtra. We will not make certain about who will get a transparent majority. One or two events won’t kind the federal government. There are a number of events in each alliances. Nonetheless, it’s sure that no authorities may be shaped with out contemplating Ajit Pawar,” Malik advised ANI.

The NCP has fielded Malik from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar towards Samajwadi Celebration nominee and MVA-backed sitting MLA Abu Azmi and Shiv Sena’s Suresh Patil.

“You’ll be able to’t win the meeting elections with 28,000 votes. It’s true that Mahayuti has put up a candidate (Sena’s Suresh Patil) there, however I’m not within the fray out of my very own will however that of the folks. I’m assured that I can be elected,” Malik asserted.

Who’s Nawab Malik?

Nawab Malik was a minister within the Maha Vikas Aghadi authorities and was arrested in 2022 in a case first registered by the NIA. He was granted bail on medical grounds in July this yr.

After the NCP break up, the faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar took the MLA into its fold, regardless of objections from ally BJP.

A sitting MLA from Anushakti Nagar, Malik left that constituency to his daughter Sana, who’s making her debut in electoral politics as NCP candidate.

BJP To Not Marketing campaign For Malik

Earlier, the BJP had expressed displeasure over Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s determination to area Nawab Malik within the upcoming election. BJP and NCP are a part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra.

Malik is an accused in an alleged cash laundering case involving mafia don Dawood Ibrahim and his associates Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon. Citing the identical, the BJP has introduced that it’s going to not marketing campaign for Malik within the upcoming elections.

“BJP’s stand on this problem may be very clear. We’re of the view that each one the companions in Mahayuti have the suitable to declare their very own candidates, whoever they need to, however right here the query is about NCP’s authorised candidate Nawab Malik who has been given a ticket,” Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar stated.

“Again and again, we’ve got made our stand clear about Dawood Ibrahim and the folks linked with him. This has been already stated by Devendra Fadnavis, and now I’m additionally saying the identical. So, there isn’t any query of us campaigning for Nawab Malik,” he added.