Rampur (UP), Apr 17 (PTI) Asserting he does not consider himself an alternative to senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in his stronghold Rampur, party candidate Imam Mohibullah Nadvi says he wants the emulate the feat of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was elected an MP from this seat in 1952.
Voting for the Rampur seat will be held in the first phase of elections on April 19.
Khan is still regarded as an influential leader of Rampur. He is currently lodged in Sitapur jail following his conviction in a fake birth certificate case. The SP did not give ticket to any of his family members or representatives and instead nominated Nadvi, a political greenhorn and the imam of Parliament Street mosque in Delhi.
“I have not come here as an alternative to Azam Khan saheb or anyone else. I have come to serve the people. If given a chance, I will work for the people earnestly,” Nadvi said in an interview to PTI.
Nadvi, who referred to Khan as his ‘elder brother’ in public rallies, said people should make him the winner so that the latter can be brought out of jail as soon as possible.
Asked what motivated him to enter the poll fray, Nadvi invoked Azad saying he (Azad) became the MP from Rampur while being an imam.
“Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a religious scholar but entered politics and in the year 1952 became an MP from Rampur. Not only this, he also scaled heights in politics and governance.” Speaking about the issues he have been highlighting, Nadvi stressed, “Poverty and illiteracy are issues in Rampur. We have to uplift the weaker sections. We want to bring brotherhood by ending the growing communal atmosphere in the country. We want it to begin from Rampur and this message should be spread across India.” When asked whether Rampur has not been developed as much as it should have been during the last four decades, he said, “Every public representative tries in his own way to develop his area. Here Congress, SP and BJP have had their representatives and everyone must have tried their best. But a lot of development work took place in Rampur and Uttar Pradesh under the Samajwadi Party’s rule.” A resident of Swar area of Rampur, Nadvi belongs to the Turk community which has about 1.5 lakh voters in the constituency.
He is campaigning on his own to establish his foothold and claims he is getting public support.
There are approximately 17 lakh voters in Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, out of which about 43 per cent are Muslims.
Rampur has five assembly constituencies, out of which Bilaspur, Rampur Sadar and Milak seats are held by the BJP and Swar Tanda seat is held by BJP’s ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). Chamraua seat is with the SP. PTI SLM SAB SNS ZMN
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