Nawab Malik's candidature won't impact Mahayuti's prospects: Praful Patel

Mumbai, Nov 3: NCP working president Praful Patel has said the candidature of Nawab Malik on his party's ticket for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls will not impact the prospects of Mahayuti elsewhere in the state.

Malik, who had been arrested in a money laundering case and is also accused of having links with people close to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, is the official candidate of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) from Mankhurd-Shivajinagar seat in Mumbai for the November 20 state polls.

Talking to reporters in Gondia, Patel said the allegations against Malik have not been proved in the court of law. "He is our long time colleague. If the BJP or the Shiv Sena doesn't want to support his candidature or if they want to put up their nominee against him, they can do so. We will take care to ensure Mahayuti's prospects are not impacted elsewhere in the state," the Rajya Sabha member said.

Malik was a minister in the cabinet led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray during the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. He had targeted the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) then Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, following the arrest of Aryan Khan, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son, over alleged possession of drugs on board a cruise ship in 2021.

The anti-drug agency later dropped drug charges against Aryan Khan and five others due to lack of sufficient evidence. Malik was arrested in 2022 in a case first registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Dawood Ibrahim and his associates including Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon. Malik was later granted bail on medical grounds.

After the NCP split in July last year, the faction led by Ajit Pawar took the MLA into its fold, despite objections from ally BJP. The NCP is contesting the November 20 assembly elections as part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which also has the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as its constituents.

The NCP has also given ticket to Nawab Malik's daughter Sana Malik from the Anushakti Nagar constituency, a seat which he represented multiple times in the past. The BJP has made it clear that it will not campaign for Nawab Malik, but has no objection to his daughter's candidature.

(Inputs from PTI)