MUMBAI: In a sharp political swipe at Maharashtra's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance, Priyanka Chaturvedi, leader of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), criticized the coalition for allegedly including former minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik, whom she referred to as "Dawood's aide," in their alliance. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar-led NCP went ahead and appointed not only Nawab Malik as its candidate from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Vidhan Sabha constituency but also gave a ticket to his daughter Sana Malik, who has filed her nomination for the Anushakti Nagar seat.

Chaturvedi questioned the BJP's stance on patriotism and its association with individuals linked to the underworld. She took to social media platform X to express her disapproval after Malik filed his nomination papers as an NCP candidate for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, stating, "‘Dawood aide’ is now BFF with Ashish Shelar and Devendra Fadnavis, the ‘Dawood buddy’ is now fighting in the alliance led by the BJP, officially. Patriotism ke certificate baantne waale kahaan hain aaj?"

Nawab Malik has been a controversial figure, currently out on bail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in February 2022 in connection with a money laundering case linked to underworld dons like Dawood Ibrahim. Despite heavy objections from the BJP, the NCP went ahead and nominated Malik to contest in the assembly elections. Malik himself admitted that he had already filed nomination papers both as an Independent but the party sent him the AB form, which are needed to be submitted by political parties for sponsoring candidates as set up by them, making him the NCP's official candidate from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on November 20, with results announced on November 23. Besides the BJP and NCP, the Mahayuti alliance consists of CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The opposition bloc, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), is a coalition of Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP, and the Congress party. Under its national INDIA bloc, the MVA also has support from regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, PWPI, CPI(M), and some independent MLAs.