Kolkata, March 18 (IANS) Janata Unnayan Party (JUP) founder Humayun Kabir on Wednesday, during an interaction with IANS, claimed that in the coming days West Bengal will have a Muslim Deputy Chief Minister.

West Bengal will vote in two phases in the Assembly elections scheduled to be held on April 23 and April 29. The results will be announced on May 4.

Kabir said: “I have registered a party to form the government. I will lead the Muslims. In the coming days, the Deputy CM will be a Muslim in the Bengal Assembly.”

He accused the Trinamool Congress of not giving adequate representation to candidates from the Muslim community.

He said, “Trinamool is scared. It has placed minorities, including Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and Adivasis, well. But compared to 2011, it had fewer Muslim candidates in 2016, fewer in 2021 and the least in 2026. They have realised that Muslims will not vote for them, which is why they are not giving tickets to Muslim candidates.”

The Janata Unnayan Party founder also made it clear that his party will not support the Trinamool Congress to form the government. “We have launched the party to form the government. Why would we support them?” he told IANS.

While addressing reporters during a press conference, Kabir predicted that he would contest and win from two seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.

“I need to reserve a seat. I want to announce that in Rejinagar I will win by 80,000 votes in the elections and in Naoda I will win by 30,000–40,000 votes. Later, I will keep one and leave one seat,” he said.

Both Rejinagar and Naoda constituencies fall in the Muslim-dominated Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

Referring to the Bhabanipur seat, which is set to witness a contest between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, he said, “What will happen in Bhabanipur will only be known after the button is pressed. My candidate will be a non-Bengali Muslim there.”

Notably, Humayun Kabir was suspended from the Trinamool Congress on December 4 last year after he proposed building a replica of the Babri Masjid in Murshidabad district. He later floated his own Janata Unnayan Party.

Kabir had announced last year that his party would contest 182 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

–IANS

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