The BJP today issued a scathing criticism of the candidature of Nawab Malik, one of the key leaders of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, who was backed by the party at the last minute for the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat in the coming assembly election in Maharashtra. Mr Malik, accused in an alleged money laundering case involving mafia don Dawood Ibrahim and his associates Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon, had filed two nominations. One of these was as a member of the NCP and the other as an Independent. But after the party backing, he called himself the official candidate.

“The BJP’s stance is very clear. All the parties in the alliance should decide their own candidate,” said the party’s Maharashtra unit chief Ashish Shelar later today.  

“The issue is only about Nawab Malik’s official candidature from NCP. Devendra Fadnavis has time and again clarified the stance of the party, I say it again: The BJP will not campaign for Nawab Malik. There is no question of us campaigning for him, because we won’t endorse anyone who’s related to any Dawood or Dawood related case,” he added, underscoring the reservations they expressed earlier as well. 

But the party gave the benefit of the doubt to Mr Malik’s daughter Sana Malik, who is the NCP’s official candidate from the Anushakti Nagar seat, where her father is the sitting MLA. 

“As long as we don’t get any proof and information about her, all Mahayuti candidates are BJP’s candidates,” Mr Shelar said. 

NCP sources said there has been BJP pressure on Ajit Pawar not to give nomination to Nawab Malik. But Mr Pawar has also been facing criticism from closer quarters – his partymen, who feel that he has been compromising a little too much.

In the Lok Sabha election, the NCP was allowed to contest only four seats. In the assembly polls, they got the smallest share of Maharashtra’s 288 seats – this even after bringing the same number of MLAs as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to the ruling alliance.

Sources indicated that Mr Pawar had to assert himself somewhere – and this was an apt case since Nawab Malik is one of the top five leaders of his party. Mr Malik is a prominent face in the Muslim community and the loss of their support had cost the party a lot during the Lok Sabha election. 

The NCP traditionally had good relations with the Muslim community and Pawar Junior’s alliance with the BJP has eroded this base.

But in view of the alliance and the BJP’s reservations, sources said, the party did not make its support to Nawab Malik public till the last moment – that was at 2.55 pm, five minutes before the expiry of the deadline.

Mr Malik’s big rival from Mankhurd, Samajwadi Party’s three-time sitting MLA Abu Azmi, has said the BJP’s reservations are an eyewash. His presence in the contest is expected to split the Muslim vote, if not beat the SP candidate outright.  

That would play into the hands of the ruling alliance. The BJPs’ Kirit Somaiya has posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Shiv Sena’s Suresh Krishna Patil is its official candidate.  

“Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Legislative Assembly Shiv Sena candidate Suresh Krishnarao Patil (‘ popularly known as ‘Bullet Patil’) came to my office this evening. I assured him of my full support and wished him well,” read his message posted this evening.
 

Actor Darshan Thoogudeepa was arrested with his friend and actor Pavithra Gowda and 15 others for the torture and murder of one of his fans, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, in Bengaluru in June and had approached the Karnataka High Court for interim bail.
Darshan has sought interim bail on the grounds that he is experiencing numbness in both feet. On Tuesday, the actor’s lawyer requested the court for permission for his surgery to be performed at a private hospital in Mysuru.
The request was opposed by the public prosecutor, who said that the medical documents did not specify how many days Darshan would need to be hospitalised and argued that the surgery could be conducted at a government hospital.
Justice S Vishwajith Shetty asked, “Why Mysuru? Let a doctor in Bengaluru examine you (Darshan) and provide an assessment of the surgery’s urgency and duration. Interim bail is time-limited, and we need to understand how long you would be hospitalised.”
The prosecutor also argued that Darshan should undergo a health evaluation by a state-appointed medical board.
After hearing both sides, the judge reserved his verdict and is likely to pronounce it today. 
The police had said Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Gowda, which enraged Darshan, allegedly leading to his murder. 
Raghavendra, one of the accused who is part of Darshan’s fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in Bengauluru’s RR Nagar. 
The chargesheet had detailed the inhuman treatment meted out to Renukaswamy, including being jolted with electric shocks on his private parts. Gowda, who had allegedly instigated the murder, was also allegedly present when Renukaswamy was tortured. 
“Despite my son’s constant pleas and agreeing that he did wrong, they tortured him so badly with no mercy. It causes me immense pain. Did they have no mercy whatsoever? They gave him shocks and tortured him, sparing no body part. Imagine how much pain he must have experienced. Thinking about this causes us a lot of pain,” Renukaswamy’s father Kashinath Shivanagoudar had said.

The US State Department has welcomed the reduction in tensions along the India-China border following recent troop disengagements. The US, though observing developments closely, played no role in the resolution. Both nations are verifying the vacation of positions in Depsang and Demchok areas. This move follows a new patrolling agreement announced by India aimed at restoring pre-2020 conditions.