Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024: With the Maharashtra poll campaigning at its peak, the controversies surrounding NCP leader Nawab Malik refuse to fizzle out. Statements by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the NCP have made Malik a very controversial figure ahead of the polls. Now, the NCP (Ajit Pawar) candidate from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar assembly seat has again raised the heat with his statement on the BJP and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

During an interview with news channel News 24, Nawab Malik was asked if he was with PM Modi or against him. To this, he said: “I am with Ajit Pawar and the Bharatiya Janata Party is against me.” 

He goes on to explain, “I am with Ajit Pawar… They [BJP] are constantly calling me a man of Dawood Ibrahim. They are alleging I have relations with terrorists. I have clearly said that the money laundering case against me is in the court.”

Malik said that he was keeping quiet due to the court’s directives. “The court’s bail condition is that I shall not say anything about that case, but only on the day the case is heard. I have filed a discharge application regarding my company. The day the decision comes, the truth will be out,” Malik said. 

Nawab Malik Threatens To File Defamation Suit

The NCP leader further said, “Those who are linking my name with Dawood Ibrahim and terrorism will face action. I shall file defamation suits against all of them. No matter how big a leader they are.” When asked if Devendra Fadnavis had spoken to him and if his list of “leaders to be sued” includes the Maharashtra Deputy CM, Malik said his lawyer would send a notice. “If they admit their mistake, it is fine. Otherwise, a case will be filed against them too.”

‘My Leader Is Only Ajit Pawar’

Malik was also asked if he considered Devendra Fadnavis as his leader. To this, he said, “My leader is only Ajit Pawar; I follow no one else. All the parties are on one side and Nawab Malik is on the other… I am fighting the assembly elections only because of the people. I did not even want to contest the polls… When I was in jail, my daughter was looking after my constituency [Anushakti Nagar]. But, when I went to my office after being released from jail and discharged from the hospital, there was a crowd of people, who wanted me to contest the polls.”

Nawab Malik’s daughter Sana Malik is now contesting the elections from his Anushakti Nagar seat. She is going up against NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader and actor Swara Bhasker’s husband Fahad Ahmad.