Quami Ekta Dal may support Arvind Kejriwal, says party chief Mukhtar Ansari

VARANASI: Quami Ekta Dal, being led by mafia-don-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, said the party will support AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal if he emerges as the strongest candidate with a potential to defeat BJP leader Narendra Modi.

"However, a final call on the matter will be taken at a meeting of party workers on April 29," said Quami Ekta Dal chief Afzal Ansari, the brother of Mukhtar Ansari.

"Despite a denial from AAP to take QED support, our party will still lend its support to Kejriwal if the AAP chief emerges as the strongest candidate among all the contenders to defeat Narendra Modi," QED leader Ansari said in a press conference.

"Our party's main aim is to defeat Narendra Modi here and also to stop him from becoming Prime Minister of this country, for which the party had already withdrawn its candidate Mukhtar Ansari to avoid any division of secular votes in the Lok Sabha polls here," he said.

"We are prepared to lend our support to any party candidate who emerges out as the strongest one and could defeat Modi," said Ansari.

"On April 29, a unanimous decision will be taken by all QED party workers in a meeting here, after which we will declare that to which party candidate we would lend our support for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat," he said.