Mumbai: Five-term municipal corporator Mohsin Haider filed his nomination as an independent candidate after the Indian National Congress fielded Ashok Jadhav from Andheri West constituency. Haider has alleged that the party has denied ticket to him only because he is Muslim and gave ticket to Jadhav who has lost twice.
After Sachin Sawant refused to contest from Andheri West constituency, Congress replaced Sawant with former MLA Ashok Jadhav, who has lost the last two assembly elections from the constituency. However, the party’s decision did not go well with Haider, who was also one of the potential candidates for the constituency. Upset by the party’s decision, Haider filed nomination as an independent candidate on Tuesday and has given time to the party to reconsider their decision.
Haider has been a municipal corporator for five terms from the K/West ward which includes Andheri West. His wife Meher Haider has also been a corporator from the same ward while his son Sufiyan is the working president of Mumbai Youth Congress. Haider was one of the leading names in party’s survey reports by the state and central election committee and therefore omitting his name from the list did not go well with him.
Haider alleged that the party has denied ticket to him only on basis of his religion without checking his merits. He expressed discontentment that the party who claims to give chance to every community has dropped the number of Muslim candidates in the Vidhan Sabha elections after Vidhan Parishad and Lok Sabha elections. He alleged that the party is not fielding candidate who can give a cut-throat fight to the opponent and instead fielded someone who is being called as a dummy candidate.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Haider said, “Andheri west is a cosmopolitan area and I have been serving all the communities in the area since 25 years. I got 10,000 members added to the party and have got booked for protesting on behalf of the party but when it was the party’s turn to reciprocate, it chose someone who has never worked for the party. I was only told that since the party has already fielded four Muslim candidates, I cannot be given a chance.”
After Haider filed his nomination on Tuesday, he has assured the party that BJP’s Amit Satam will not be reelected from the constituency. He has also requested the party to reconsider their decision and extend support to him until time permits.
