Samajwadi Party candidate from Mumbai North Central parliamentary constituency, Farhan Azmi on Wednesday claimed that sitting MP Priya Dutt was feeling the heat for the first time as she is locked in a fierce contest.
"My primary rival is Poonam Mahajan of BJP. Priya is feeling the heat and her morale is low. She is not stepping out of her house," Farhan told reporters in Mumbai.
He said his father and state SP chief Abu Asmi Azmi had rejected Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's pleas to withdraw from the fray in Mumbai North Central. According to Farhan, 80 per cent of the crowd with Priya on Tuesday while filing her nomination were outsiders.
"She has no local support. Only Bandra MLA Baba Siddique was present. There were no other MLAs and corporators," he claimed. He expressed confidence that he would sail through in the elections with help of youth, muslims and non-muslim North Indians in the constituency.
Farhan said his campaigning for the last six days in Chandivali, Kurla, Bandra east and Kalina areas have given him positive feedback. "Poor people in the constituency are living in inhuman conditions and throughout the campaign, I will be sporting a black band on my forehead as a mark of protest that the local MP has not done anything to uplift the living standards of the poor," he added.
Hitting out at Priya, Farhan cited the example of Priti Rathi, who was a victim of acid attack at Bandra Terminus. "There are Congress MLAs, corporators and MP from this area. But, none went to meet her when she was battling for her life and after she died no one consoled her family," he said adding that he had offered Priti Rs 10 lakh compensation and a job in his company after recovery, but she succumbed to her injuries.
Samajwadi Party never contested against Sunil Dutt, Farhan said adding that late Dutt did good work for the poor. "But Priya has shamed her father," he charged.
Farhan also said that the party will replace it's candidate Kamaal Khan fielded in Mumbai North West . "It was a mistake to nominate him and it was after his name was announced that we came to know about his derogatory tweets.
Kamaal should have apologised for the tweets after his candidature was announced. The decision regarding his candidature would be taken in a day or two," he said.
Farhan urged the EC to check the fund source of AAP and how BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is constantly mid-air to address election rallies. "We are contesting 22 seats in Maharashtra and finding it difficult to reach to all constituencies to campaign for our candidates," he said.
He said the need of the hour was for area centric manifestos. "Issues of Bandra West in my constituency are different from the ones at Chandivali or Vile Parle. I want to represent the youth cutting across religious, caste and regional lines.
Only Samajwadi party is creating fresh leadership from among the masses. I urge the Marathi-speaking people to join us and realise how the Shiv Sena and MNS have been playing with their sentiments," he said.
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