New Delhi [India], October 23 : Former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kriti Somaiya wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday, seeking action against Samajwadi Party Maharashtra Chief Abu Azmi for using an alleged provocative speech during his recent election campaign.
In his letter, Somaiya alleged that Azmi was appealing to the Muslim community to vote on "religious lines" and that he was "exploiting fanaticism" among Muslim voters ahead of the elections.
He also noted the speech given by Azmi, where the SP leader said that when the party has eight MLAs in Maharashtra, no mother will "feed her child milk" to commit atrocities against Muslims.
"We currently have two MLAs; we need at least six to eight MLAs, and the day we get eight MLAs, no one's mother will feed him milk so that he can commit atrocities against Muslims. This is my promise: I can offer my life for this community, but I will not kneel before anyone," Azmi said, as alleged in the letter.
Somaiya further appealed to the Election Commission to take appropriate action against the SP leader.
Earlier, the Samajwadi Party demanded 12 seats from the Maha Vikas Aghadi as part of the alliance for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls.
Azmi stated that his post on X was not to express resentment but to remind the parties that time is running out.
Speaking to ANI, Azmi said, "At present, only Congress, NCP-SCP, and Shiv Sena (UBT) are holding meetings. Meetings with other smaller parties are still pending. I was reminding them through my tweet that it is getting very late. I had heard that Congress was going to announce something too, so I had told them to take us into confidence. There is no resentment in this; I just wanted to remind that the relations between Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav are also good."
"I am asking for 12 seats from the alliance. I will try to get that many seats," Abu Azmi added.
Assembly elections in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20, as announced by the Election Commission of India on October 15. With this, the political parties have begun gearing up for the election for the 288 seats in the state.