LS polls: Sulking for a week, Congress' Maha unit Working President Naseem Khan bounces back as Star Campaigner

Mumbai: Following intervention by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala, Maharashtra unit Congress Working President Arif Naseem Khan on Saturday agreed to be a 'Star Campaigner' for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Last month (on April 26), Khan had abruptly quit the Congress Campaign Committee as well as the post of Star Campaigner to protest against the lack of any Muslim candidate from the party as well as the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance for the Lok Sabha polls.

Amid huge speculation over his future moves, Khan was summoned to Pune on Friday to meet Chennithala and Rahul Gandhi to resolve his grievances, and discussed all aspects with him for nearly two hours.

"We had very cordial discussions on various matters concerning the LS elections. I shall abide by the party decision and more shall be revealed on Monday," Khan told IANS on Saturday, without revealing any details.

Indicating everything is hunky-dory for now, the Congress late Friday night released its new list of Star Campaigners in which Khan is named prominently and will campaign for the Congress-MVA-INDIA bloc candidates in the state for the May 20 elections.

Earlier, the sudden move by the senior leader of the Muslim community, who is a former state minister, had rattled the state Congress and also party units in other states across the country, with possible implications on the Muslim vote in nearly 20 seats in Maharashtra and many more in other states.

Khan was a contender for the prestigious Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, where the party has fielded city Congress President and ex-minister Prof. Varsha Gaikwad.

Her chief rivals include Bharatiya Janata Party's Ujjwal Nikam, besides the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen's Ramzan Chaudhary and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Santosh Ambulge.

The tricky situation arising out of Khan's move got compounded after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge appeared to indicate that there could be opposition to a Muslim candidate from the MVA partner Shiv Sena (UBT), led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in his home seat.

Earlier, VBA President Prakash Ambedkar had slammed the Congress and MVA allies -- SS (UBT) and Nationalist Congress (SP) -- for denying a ticket to any Muslim candidate for the 48 LS seats in the state. Ambedkar had pointed out that the VBA had lived up to its promises and fielded several Muslims candidates in the state, while the AIMIM asked Khan to 'kick the Congress' and made an open offer to Khan to contest any LS seat in Mumbai on its party ticket.

In a succour to the Congress and the minority community, SS (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut promptly cleared the air by declaring that his party had absolutely "no reservations" to Khan's candidature, or any other candidate of the Congress.

"We have excellent relations with Khan. He is a senior Muslim leader and respected in political circles. If the Congress wants to field him from any seat, we shall wholeheartedly support him and ensure his victory," said Raut, and other SS (UBT) leaders also expressed similar sentiments.

With Khan's return to the campaign fold, the MVA has heaved a sigh of relief that the minorities may not desert their LS candidates and would help defeat the MahaYuti-BJP nominees in the state.