Mukhtar Ansari to not contest against Modi in Varanasi

Mukhtar Ansari, who gave a tough fight to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi in Varanasi in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, has decided not to contest against Narendra Modi from the seat "to avoid division of secular votes". Quami Ekta Dal's Ansari, described by the police as a gangster-turned-politician and now four-time MLA from Mau, is currently lodged in Agra jail in the BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai murder case. "A decision in this regard has been taken at the meeting of Quami Ekta Dal," Mukhtar's brother, Afzal Ansari, told PTI on Thursday. The step has been taken "to strengthen secular forces and avoid division of votes", he added. "We will discuss our future course of action later. Now the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Aam Aadmi Party have to decide how to defeat Modi," he said, adding the party had earlier written to all "secular parties" to join hands to defeat the BJP prime ministerial candidate. Mukhter, who contested the earlier Lok Sabha polls on a BSP ticket, lost by a slender margin of 17,000 votes to Joshi. Later, he was expelled from BSP and formed the Quami Ekta Dal in 2010.