Mumbai: Bollywood actors being roped in
by political parties to campaign for the upcoming civic polls
would not be able to influence the urban voters, Samajwadi
Party (SP) leader Abu Asim Azmi said on Monday.
"Amar Singh, who was my leader, used to bring actors
for the campaigns, however, it made no impact on strengthening
the vote bank," Azmi said in a press conference after
releasing the first list of 62 party candidates for the BMC
elections scheduled on February 16.
Samajwadi Party is fielding candidates on 165 out of
the total of 227 seats for the country`s richest civic body.
Citing an example of thespian Dilip Kumar who had
campaigned for Congress in Uttar Pradesh in the past
elections, Azmi, who is the state unit president of SP said,
"wherever the actor campaigned Congress was defeated".
Saying that he respects Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mayawati for not seeking services of actor fraternity, Azmi
said, "she has her own vote bank and she never ropes in any
actor or actress".
Close on the heels of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
(MNS) releasing lists of its candidates for the civic polls
and subsequent heartburn it has caused among some of its
cadres, Azmi claimed that a scores of workers from MNS and
also the NCP have joined his party.
"The former MNS workers told me that the reason they
had joined the Raj Thackeray-led outfit was not on any
ideological basis, but they felt that they could easily get
away on the highways without paying the toll," he said.
PTI
