Mumbai: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Ismail Shaikh, who had filed his nomination from the Malad West constituency, had taken a U-turn by joining Indian National Congress (INC) on Wednesday and campaigning for the Congress.
Notably, AIMIM candidate Shaikh from the Malad constituency had earlier filed his nomination to contest against Congress candidate two-time MLA Aslam Shaikh and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Thakur Ramesh Singh. Till Wednesday, Shaikh was campaigning for the AIMIM, but hours later, people were shocked to see that in a new twist of turn, he decided to support the Congress.
Interestingly, in a rally in Malvani on Wednesday evening, Shaikh joined Congress and openly began to support and campaign for the party candidate. This perplexed the supporters, who were caught unawares and had no clue as to what was happening and what to do next.
In the North Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, the Malad assembly segment is the only constituency which is said to be a Congress stronghold. To pull the voters, the BJP has fielded former Kandivali MLA Ramesh Singh from here, this time around. To retain the constituency, the Congress gave a ticket to sitting MLA Aslam Shaikh, a two-time MLA from here.
Chances of Congress losing the election were high, as the Muslim electorate could have voted for the AIMIM candidate, surely making a dent into the Congress votes and definitely benfitting the BJP. Therfore, the Congress was in no mood to take a chance, so sealed a deal with the AIMIM candidate and made him join the party.
During the campaign also, Ismail Shaikh seemed to have giving a tough challenge to Aslam Shaikh.
Further, AIMIM would have confused the Muslim voters, thus rising the chances of BJP win from the Malad seat. By roping in Shaikh in the party, the Congress seems to be in a safe place, for now.
