SP not to field candidate against Priya Dutt

Going soft on Priya Dutt, who is daughter of Sunil Dutt and contesting Lok Sabha polls from North-Central Mumbai, SP spokesperson Abdul Khadir Chaudhary said, "In a gesture to show respect to late Sunil Dutt who had done a lot for people of different castes and communities, we have decided not to divide secular votes by contesting against Priya Dutt."

"Throughout his life Sunil Dutt protected secularism and believed in serving people without going into details of caste and creed they belong to," Choudhary said, adding "to show our greatest respect to late Dutt, our high command decided not to contest from the Mumbai North-Central seat."

As per the agreement, Choudhary said, so far SP has decided to contest polls in North-West Mumbai, South Mumbai, North Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Nandurbar, Aurangabad, Ramtek, Chandrapur and Yawatmal-Washim Lok Sabha seats while the RJD will contest from South-Central Mumbai and North-East Mumbai constituencies.

LJP would contest from Jalna seat while the other would be either Thane or Kalyan, a LJP leader said.

We have formed coalition in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh apart from Maharashtra, Chaudhary said. "Congress-NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) government has not fulfilled its promises made to the people of Maharashtra. People also don't want Shiv Sena and BJP," he claimed.

"The people provided an opportunity to both but they failed in serving them. They don't want to see them at the Centre. We will surely win the seats from where we are contesting the polls," he said.

Chaudhary denied that their coalition was eating into secular votes. "On April 24, leaders of the coalition will address a rally in Mumbai, for which the venue is yet to be finalised," he said.

Coming down heavily on the Congress, LJP state president Samim Hawa said, "It is a revolt against Congress' dictatorship. UPA (United Progressive Alliance) does not only belong to Congress alone. It was formed by various political parties to serve the people."

RJD Mumbai president Sayyed Shoukat Ahmed hoped that their party would win two seats it is contesting from.