Pune

The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congres Party (NCP) released a list of 27 star campaigners and it includes minister Hasan Mushrif, Idris Nayakwadi, Member of the Maharashtra legislative Council (MLC) and other prominent Muslim representatives like Jalaluddin Syed, and Wasim Burhan.

Hasan Mashriq, who comes from the Kagal assembly constituency, is an important leader of the party and the minority community. However, His image goes beyond religion, and he has carefully cultivated it. Instead of being a Muslim leader, he is seen as a leader who speaks for and represents all religious communities.

During political campaigns and social service, he has built friendly relations with leaders of various parties. Currently, he is the Minister of Medical Education and Special Assistance in the state government.

Wasim Burhan is also a member of the Minority Commission of the state. After being selected as a star campaigner, Wasim expressed his gratitude to the party through a Facebook post.

He wrote, "My heartfelt gratitude to respected Dada and respected Tatkare sahab for my appointment as a star campaigner. As a star campaigner, I am eager to convey the idea, resolve, and objective of the Nationalist Congress Party to the last voter. Also, I will strive for the progress of Maharashtra under the successful leadership of Ajit Pawar."

On the eve of the announcement of the elections, the NCP nominated Naikwadi to the Legislative Council. He is also the state president of the Minority Department of NCP.

On his nomination, political commentator Pradeep Deshmukh says, "A person who can speak well and convey the ideology of his party to the general public in a good way is chosen as a star campaigner by any political party. There is no relation of caste and religion in this. But to attract a particular community, equations are balanced by giving a post to a person from that community."

He further says, "In the Lok Sabha elections, Ajit Pawar did not get the support of the minorities, especially the Muslim community. That is why Ajit Pawar made Idris Naikwadi an MLC. He also included Muslim faces in the list of star campaigners for the same reason. This shows that he is trying to get the support of the Muslim community."

Votes of the Muslim community are considered decisive, as was proven in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Analysts believe that these votes can prove decisive in the assembly elections as well. That is why all political parties are trying to get the support of the Muslim community.

However, the party legislator Nawab Malik has been missing from the list. Malik after his medical bail has been associated with the Ajit Pawar faction and he is expected to contest from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar while his daughter Sana Malik from Anushakti Nagar constituency on NCP’s clock symbol.