Politics | Updated Apr 06, 2009 at 11:27am IST

Why Nafisa Ali agreed to step into Dutt shoes

IANS

New Delhi: With Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt out of contention, social activist Nafisa Ali was on Sunday announced as the Samajwadi Party candidate from the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

"Nafisa Ali is a personal friend, and when I asked her whether she would come to Lucknow as SP's candidate or would like to represent a party (Congress) which has no political base in Uttar Pradesh, she said that she has full faith in SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's secular ideologies and is ready to contest elections from Lucknow as SP candidate," party General Secretary Amar Singh stated.

Fifty-two-year-old Nafisa Ali had earlier contested the 2004 Parliamentary polls on a Congress ticket against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee from South Kolkata seat but had lost.

“I am contesting from Lucknow because I am worried about the growth of communal forces in the country. I think Mulayam and Amar Singh are leaders who understand the pulse of the people of Lucknow coz it is the Hindu heartland. Communal revival in Lucknow is a cause of concern. I saw this opportunity as the best to serve Lucknow. Mulayam and Amar are the grass-root level people, very real people. I appreciate them and I love the Dutt family,” she said when asked why she accepted the party ticket.

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