With Bollywood biggies by his side, Zameer wants to prove he is boss in Chamarajpet

The political animosity between the rebel JD(S) MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan and his former political bosses, is growing acrimonious by the day.

After declaring that he would decapitate himself, if in case the JD(S) wrests Chamarajpet from him, Khan, the sitting MLA of the said constituency, is now all set to exhibit his strength, as part of his birthday celebrations.

Khan, will turn 51 on August 1. After JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda hosted a public meeting in Chamarajpet on July 21, and openly challenged Khan that he will be made to pay a price for “betraying” the JD(S), the latter has taken it upon himself to prove the veteran politician wrong.

Khan has invited Bollywood celebrities like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan, Sonu Sood and Gulshan Grover to be part of his birthday celebrations in Bengaluru on Tuesday.He has planned a massive roadshow from the Rajkumar statue (next to ETA Mall) to Sangam Circle, where he will be seen flanked by the Bollywood celebrities. 

Following the roadshow, Khan and his supporters have organised a stage event at Sangam Circle, where the celebrities will address the gathering and sing praises of the politician, who is at the crossroads of his political journey. Khan, who is a three time MLA from the South Bengaluru constituency, was suspended by Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy last year, for his anti party activities. 

The party had initiated disciplinary action against seven JD(S) MLAs, including Khan, after they cross voted and helped the Congress candidate K C Ramamurthy win the Rajya Sabha polls. A one time confidante of Kumaraswamy, Khan was completely distanced from the party after he started rubbing shoulders with Congress leaders. Khan, along with the six other suspended MLAs will join the Congress in November. 

Speaking to Asianet Newsable, he said that more than 50,000 people will participate in the road show. “It is a fact that Gowda is my political guru, and I will always remain grateful to him. But he is deluded if he thinks that the JD(S) will defeat me in my own constituency. Gowda may have ensured my first victory in the constituency in 2005. But I won the subsequent elections in 2008 and 2013 single handedly, without anybody’s help. Chamarajpet is my fort. People of the constituency treat me like their own son. The JD(S) will not even be able to retain its deposit here,” he said. 

Khan said that Gowda had failed to get together even 2,000 people during the public meeting on July 21. “He held another meeting on July 29, where less than 250 people were present. This constituency is impregnable by anybody else,” he added.
When asked if the roadshow would be his show of strength, Khan said that his birthday celebrations had nothing to do with the upcoming elections. 

He said that owing to his earlier ties with Mumbai (where he ran his transport business), he had come in contact with several Bollywood biggies, all of whom had remained his well wishers or friends, even to this day.

“Last year, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Chunkey Pandey, Aftab Shivdasani and Shakti Kapoor had participated in my 50th year birthday celebrations. Salman bhai (Salman Khan) too was supposed to come, but he couldn’t make it. This year too is unable to make it. But his brothers are gracing the occasion. Just because celebrities are descending upon Chamarajpet, it doesn’t mean that it will translate into votes,” he said.

For Gowda, winning Chamrajpet has become a prestige issue. Though the party is yet to zero in on its candidate, Gowda has declared that his party will recapture the constituency, along with six other constituencies, which has slipped out of JD(S)’s hands. He has said that like in 2005, he will go door to door and make sure that his party candidate will win the seat.

• JD(S)
• Chamrajpet
• Zameer Ahmed Khan
• H D Deve Gowda
• H D Kumaraswamy
• assembly elections
• rebel