After flop LS debut, Ujjwal Nikam returns as special public prosecutor of BJP govt in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Advocate Ujjwal Nikam is back as special public prosecutor. The Maharashtra government has re-appointed him and he is expected to resume all the cases, which he had to leave when he tried his luck in the Lok Sabha elections, ThePrint has learnt.

Nikam was the BJP’s candidate from Mumbai North Central, but he lost to Varsha Gaikwad of the Congress party by 16,000-plus votes.

The Congress party has objected to his reinstatement, saying that the BJP was setting a “wrong precedent”. “Ujjwal Nikam fought the Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate. And by appointing him as a special prosecutor, the BJP is setting a wrong precedent. We strongly object to this appointment,” Congress state president Nana Patole told the media.

ThePrint tried to reach out to Ujjwal Nikam but he declined to comment on the topic.

In his short foray into electoral politics, Nikam had tried to campaign on the plank of nationalism with the BJP also roping him in given that he was the special public prosecutor representing the Maharashtra government in the trial of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case.

Kasab was hanged on 21 November 2012. In 2015, Nikam had revealed that Kasab had never demanded mutton biryani, as was widely reported, and added that the claim was “concocted” to break “an emotional atmosphere” which was taking shape in the latter’s favour during trial.

Nikam had resigned from 29 cases, including eight in Mumbai, in which he had been appointed as special prosecutor in May and had submitted his resignation to the law and judiciary department.

The BJP had dropped incumbent MP Poonam Mahajan and fielded the government counsel in Mumbai North Central. But when the results came in, Varsha Gaikwad won from the seat, becoming the sole Congress MP from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

(Edited by Tony Rai)