Ram Naik alleges that Govinda, who was the Congress candidate, had links with Dawood Ibrahim and used it to terrorize voters.
Highlights
- Naik, three-time MP from Mumbai North, lost to Govinda by 11,000 votes
- The actor has rubbished the allegations made by Ram Naik
- Revelations made in Veteran BJP leader's book on his 60 years in politics
Ram Naik, the governor of Uttar Pradesh, has alleged that to defeat him in the 2004 national election, actor-politician Govinda took help from gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
Mr Naik, 82, has made the stunning allegation in his book in Marathi, "Charaivati, Charaivati (keep moving)", which describes his 60 years in politics.
The veteran BJP leader, a former union minister, shares in the recently released memoirs that he found it difficult to accept his defeat by just 11,000 votes in the Mumbai North constituency - where he had won thrice in a row. His assessment of the unexpected defeat is that the underworld was involved.
He alleges that Govinda, who was the Congress candidate, had links with Dawood Ibrahim and used it to terrorize voters.
The 52-year-old actor has rubbished the governor's comments.
"How can Ram Naik make such an allegation? No one in the police or in the legal system is saying this. How can anyone be so upset about their defeat that they credit someone's victory to the underworld," Govinda said.
In the book, Mr Naik also accuses a TV channel of showing only Govinda films to influence voters.
Reacting to his allegations, Maharashtra home minister Ram Shinde said: "If needed the allegations will be inquired into. But those were the old days when such nexus did exist. The present government will not allow such things to happen."