Manoj has a strong fan base, so his chances of winning are big : Abbas Kazmi

Bigg Boss season 4 seems to be slowly grabbing eyeballs. A large part of the credit goes to Salman Khan but the choice of contestants and their ‘performance’ also seem to have a big role to play. Lawyer Abbas Kazmi (who had invited a lot of flak for choosing to defend Ajmal Kasab) was the second person to be ousted from Bigg Boss house after Bunty Chor. Despite being voted out Kazmi is all praise for his housemates. “It is a very nice concept. People from different walks of life, age groups, races and even countries have come together this time. And all of us live like a family. I feel Bigg Boss sends a very strong and positive message of national integration and communal harmony,” he says speaking to TellyChakkar immediately after his ouster. If he had developed such strong bonds, he must be feeling terrible about his eviction, that too in just a week’s time. “I am not regretting it. I will be home just in time for my daughter’s 21st birthday,” says the 55-year-old. “At the same time, I must also admit there is a lot of dirty politics that goes on inside the house. Some felt threatened because they saw me as a possible winner,” says the lawyer, carefully weighing his words. “The strategy is to weed out the strong contestants first and then pounce on the soft targets. They saw me as a potential winner and so plotted against me so early on,” Kazmi explains without divulging who ‘they’ are. So who does he see as a potential winner? “Difficult to say at this stage, but I feel Manoj Tiwari is the strongest contender. He has a huge fan base in the North and in these shows, regional bias plays a role and he can expect a lot of votes for him,” smiles Kazmi. Who were his favourites? Without batting an eyelid he says, “Aanchal Kumar and Rahul Bhatt. Aanchal is a very nice girl without any of the tantrums one would expect a supermodel to have.” What is his take on the controversy of having Pakistani participants in the show? After a pause he says, “They are probably responding to the hostility shown to our country. But these are totally their views and I cannot say anything.” Kazmi will soon be back to wearing his black robe and the courtroom but he is happy to have got an opportunity to participate in the show.