Jaipur, March 25 -- Rajasthan Muslim Alliance president Mohsin Rashid on Wednesday requested the Congress leadership to nominate jailed activist and former JNU student leader Umar Khalid to the Rajya Sabha from the state.

Citing a lack of Muslim representation from the state in Parliament and Khalid's track record as an educated youth leader, Rashid emphasised that legal charges should not disqualify him.

"Our demand is that if you look at Rajasthan, for decades, there has been no Muslim representation, neither in the Lok Sabha nor in the Rajya Sabha. In the last Lok Sabha elections, there were 50 candidates, 25 from the BJP and 25 from the Congress, and both sets were entirely Muslim-free; not a single Muslim was included. At that time...