Congress' Jale candidate for Bihar polls never aligned with Jinnah's ideology: Surjewala

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala came in support of Masqoor Ahmed Usmani, Congress candidate from Jale constituency after BJP leader Giriraj Singh questioned whether the grand old party and Mahagathbandhan supported Jinnah's ideology.

Patna (Bihar): Masqoor Ahmed Usmani, Congress candidate from Jale constituency for Bihar polls never aligned with Jinnah's ideology, said party's General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday.

This comes a day after Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Giriraj Singh said that the grand old party and mahagathbandhan need to tell that whether they support Jinnah's ideology.

"The BJP is preparing controversy in hatred factory, to divert attention. Our Jale candidate never aligned with Jinnah's ideology. When he was an Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student, he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for removal of Jinnah's portrait from AMU, Parliament and Bombay High Court. But PM Modi never responded," Surjewala said during a press conference here.

The Congress party gave the ticket to former President of Aligarh Muslim University Student's Union Dr Maskoor Ahmad Usmani as a candidate from Jale seat, Dharbhanga for the upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections 2020.

In 2019, Usmani was booked under sedition charges for raising anti-national slogans. In 2020, Twitter suspended his official account for criticizing the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on the arrest of Safoora Zargar and Meeran Haider.

Congress has denied the party's ticket to former Railways Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra's grandson Rishi Mishra who had contested unsuccessfully from Jale segment in Darbhanga district in the 2015 assembly polls, a year after he had grabbed the seat in a by-election. He had lost the seat to Jibesh Kumar of the BJP.

Assembly elections in Bihar will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and 7. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.

(ANI)