North Bhopal seat to witness duel of namesakes

BJP's Arif Baig began his political career as a socialist and was a minister in the Morarji Desai cabinet and Congress' Arif Aqueel has won from this constituency five times.

Two namesake contestants from rival parties, the BJP and the Congress, will slug it out in the November 25 Assembly elections from the prestigious north Bhopal constituency.

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The BJP’s candidate, Arif Baig, 78, began his political career as a socialist and was a minister in the Morarji Desai cabinet. On the other hand, the Congress has once again fielded Arif Aqueel, 63, who has won from this constituency five times, although he had lost in 1990 when he contested as an independent candidate against BJP’s Ramesh Sharma.

Aqueel said Baig had given him “best wishes” for a victory when they met before he had got the BJP ticket and that he was confident that Baig’s wishes would bear fruit and he would emerge victorious.