Don Abu Salem hopes to contest UP assembly polls

Azamgarh, Nov 13 (UNI) Don Abu Salem, awaiting verdict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, is keen to contest the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh due early next year and is to seek legal opinion to include his name in the electoral rolls.

Salem had sent more than 50,000 posters to Mubarakpur wishing people of the constituency during the twin festivals of Diwali and Eid. However, the posters did not mention the name of the publishers -- which is mandatory as per law.

The posters, pasted all over the constituency, read 'Hum Ahale Hind Hai, Seene me Sher Ka Dil Rakhe hai, Agar Saath Mila Apka to Rukh Toofan Ka More Sakte Hai, Vatan Ki Abru Bachayenge, Hum Ek Khushal Bharat Banayenge' (I am a true Indian and have a heart of a Lion, if I get your support I can change the path of any hurricane, will save the country and turn it into a developed country).

However, all the posters were removed by the district administration and District Magistrate Subhash Chandra Sharma gave the task of investigation to Additional District Magistrate (Sadar) Prabhunath. Investigations in the case are still on.

After meeting the District Magistrate on October 28, Salem's advocate Ashok Saravagi had assured that the don would contest the 2007 Assembly elections in any case and said the efforts to include his name in the poll electoral list would be started soon. The don had already conveyed his wish to enter the political fray to prove his ''innocence'' in criminal activities and has asked his family members to launch a low-profile campaign.

All the national political parties have been approached by the don for a ticket. But the issue was yet to materialise.

Mubarakpur, a hub of the world famous Banarasi Sarees, is a Muslim-dominated area with 50 per cent of the population comprising of the weavers' community.

Though Salem does not hail from Mubarakpur, his elder sister resides there. His brother-in-law Mohammad Takiuddin was spearheading his campaign.

Salem was extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005, and has been lodged in the Author Road jail. About eight cases are pending against him of which, three each are in Mumbai and Delhi and one each in Hyderabad and Lucknow.

The don has been charged with supplying of arms and explosives to carry out the Mumbai blasts, which had killed over 200 people.

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