The Maharashtra polls are a month away and defections are already in full swing.

In the past week, BJP leader Rajan Teli left his party and is set to join the Shiv Sena (UBT). Congress leaders Bharat Gavit and Javed Shroff abandoned ship for Ajit Pawar’s NCP. And BJP leader Laxman Dhoble left for Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction.

Among this crop is Kamaal Farooqui – a former Congressman who joined the NCP (SP) but is now set to return to the Congress.

Farooqui told Newslaundry: “The only party capable of truly leading and reinstating the spirit of our country is the Congress.”

Farooqui’s return is likely to boost the Congress, given that he’s one of Maharashtra’s leading Muslim politicians. A former protégé of union minister CK Jaffer Shroff and former chief minister AR Antulay, he was once close to influential party leaders like Arjun Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar. But when Sharad Pawar left the Congress to form the NCP in 1999, Farooqui followed him five years later. 

But now, Farooqui said his time with the NCP is done.

“I have immense respect for Pawar Saheb and I am grateful for the 19 years I spent with the party,” he told Newslaundry. “I remained loyal during its challenging times. But now it’s time for a homecoming to my original party. I believe we must all work together to strengthen national unity for the greater good. I also want to reiterate my commitment to the shared ideological principles that both parties uphold.”

Both the Congress and NCP (SP) are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra.

Parting of ways 

Farooqui’s journey in politics began in 1978 as a member of the National Students’ Union of India, the student wing of the Congress. He was state joint secretary of the NSUI alongside Ashok Chavan, who would later become chief minister of Maharashtra. 

But he parted ways with the Congress soon after the 2004 state polls, during which he’d wanted to contest from either Sillod or Aurangabad West. Due to differences with local leaders, he wasn’t given a ticket. Angered, Farooqui then contested on a BSP ticket from Aurangabad West, nearly upsetting Congressman and minister Rajendra Darda’s eventual win. His departure from the Congress also led to a significant decline in the party’s popularity among Muslim voters, particularly in Aurangabad district. 

Once Farooqui joined Pawar’s NCP, he was appointed chairman of the Consumer Welfare Advisory Committee with a ministerial rank. In 2009, when another leader was given the NCP ticket from the newly formed Aurangabad Central constituency, he stepped back from elections. Instead, he took on a more supportive role in the party, holding the position of general secretary and acting as a national council member in Delhi. 

Analysts claim these missteps in handling Farooqui by both the Congress and the NCP paved the way for the rise of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM in the region. 

Interestingly, shortly before he rejoined the Congress, there had been rumours that Farooqui would join the AIMIM, especially after he was photographed with Owaisi earlier this year at an event. Previously, there had been rumours that he had aided the AIMIM’s victory in Aurangabad Central in 2014. His supporters also won elections on AIMIM tickets in the 2015 local polls in Aurangabad.

But Farooqui told Newslaundry he is now committed to the “centrist ideology of Gandhi-Azad-Nehruvian principles for the unity and welfare of the Republic of India”. He said he had returned to the Congress due to the importance of “defeating communal, hateful right-wing ideology of BJP and its like-minded parties”. 

Farooqui’s son, Umar Farooqui, also joined the Congress alongside his father. The younger Farooqui is expected to take on a role in Delhi while his father will likely play a key role in strategising ahead of the polls. 

So, will Farooqui returning change party fortunes? Our reporters will hit the ground to find out. Click here to support our upcoming Sena project on the assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.