The social activist, who defected from the Congress to the Samajwadi Party, advised her former party to support her.
Social activist Nafisa Ali who has been named by the Samajwadi Party as its candidate for Lucknow on Sunday claimed the Congress has no chances of winning the Lok Sabha seat now and advised the party to support her.
"The Gandhi family loves Uttar Pradesh and as the party wants to win in the state they should support me from this seat as now they have no chances of victory here", Nafisa Ali said here.
Describing the SP as a secular, democratic and socialist party, she expressed her happiness over being chosen by the party as its candidate from the seat which she termed the "capital of the cowbelt".
"I wanted to contest from the state as whatever happens here has a ripple effect across the country. Some parties are trying to follow their communal agenda from here and I believe being with the SP I can fight that in a better and forceful way", she said.
Asked about the secular credentials of the Congress, the party to which she belonged earlier, Ali said though safe under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi there are "some elements" in the party she doubts.
When queried as to why she decided to quit the Congress she said she does not want to discuss the past.
"I don't want to be blinded but to open my eyes to serve the country. I don't want to discuss the past", she said.
Terming Varun Gandhi's alleged hate speeches as unfortunate, Nafisa said she cannot endorse his views.
She tried to corner Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who represnted the Lucknow seat five times, saying that the former prime minister fell into the trap of the party (BJP) and did not teach "rajdharma" to (Gujarat chief minister) Narendra Modi at the time of communal riots in the state.
Nafisa, who is married to a Sikh, said she was peeved at the CBI giving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Asked about her poll prospects, the former actress said she has very little time left but she would work hard to win the hearts of the electorate.
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