Jailed MlA Mukhtar Ansari will not contest the election against Narendra Modi as his party, Quami Ekta Dal, on Thursday withdrew his candidature from Varanasi parliamentary constituency.
The QED appealed all non-BJP parties to reconsider fielding a joint candidate against Modi so that the anti-BJP votes were not divided.
"The non-BJP parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Aam Aadmi Party, are not serious on stopping Modi," QED chief Afzal Ansari said and added that he had sought support from these parties for his Mukhtar Ansari, who was the runner-up in the 2009 general election and had secured over 1.83 lakh votes, but these parties did not respond.
Addressing media persons here on Thursday evening, Ansari said that he had appealed to all the parties to field a joint candidate to consolidate anti-BJP votes but the parties paid no heed to his call.
The QED chief said that his party had decided to withdraw the candidature of Mukhtar Ansari, and again appealed to all parties to reconsider fielding of a joint candidate to check division of anti-Modi votes.
"The BJP is taking the election to Varanasi seat seriously and it can be gauged from the fact that it has made an alliance with Apna Dal which has only one MlA in UP Assembly because it wants to get the support of Anupriya Patel who represents Rohania constituency falling under Varanasi parliamentary seat. Moreover, the BJP gave two seats to Apna Dal," he said.
"There are lesser chances of victory if we go it alone and this is the reason why we appealed non-BJP parties to support Mukhtar," Ansari said, adding that if the Congress, SP and BSP did not reconsider their stand by April 17, the day when the nomination process begins, the QED would extend its support to the candidate giving a tough fight to Modi.
It is well-known that Mukhtar has rivalry with Congress candidate Ajay Rai and thus there are remote chances that he will extend support to him. There are reports that Afzal is also in touch with the SP leadership but he will make his stand clear after April 17.