“AIMIM will fight the elections in West Bengal … AIMIM will come to Bengal,” said AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
Hyderabad:
Encouraged by the outcome of the Bihar Assembly elections, Asaduddin Owaisi’s party, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen or AIMIM, which won five seats, is now seeking to spread its wings to states such as Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Speaking to journalists in Hyderabad, Owaisi said that his party will fight for justice in the Seemanchal region of Bihar.
Reacting to allegations that his party was splitting the votes against the BJP, Owaisi said he was leading a political party that has the right to compete on its own.
“Do you mean we shouldn’t fight in the elections? You (Congress) went and sat on Shiv Sena’s lap (in Maharashtra). If anyone asks why you fought in the elections … I will fight in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and I will fight every election in the country, “he said.
“Do I need to ask someone for permission to fight the polls,” he said when asked if the match would compete in any other state.
However, it did not clarify whether the party would compete on its own or in alliance with other parties.
“AIMIM will fight in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Only time will tell who we will ally with,” Owaisi added.
By attacking West Bengal Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for calling AIMIM a “vote cutter” in Bihar polls, Owaisi sought to know what he has done for the well-being of Muslims in his constituency.
“… Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has to answer why the condition of Muslims is so bad in his own constituency. He has to say what he did for Muslims,” he said.
“AIMIM will fight the ballot box in West Bengal … AIMIM will come to Bengal,” he added.
Asaduddin Owaisi is often criticized by Congress and other parties as supposedly the “B-team” of the BJP.
AIMIM, led by Asaduddin Owaisi, appears to have made a big cut in the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan vote in the Seemanchal region in the third phase of the polls, according to survey experts.
The Hyderabad MP-led party was competing for 20 seats in the Bihar elections, most of which went to the polls in the third phase on November 7, as part of the Great Secular Democratic Front which has four other parties, included Rashtriya Lok Samta of Upendra Kushwaha Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
The party’s five-seat victory has become inconsequential in terms of providing support in the event of a hung assembly, as NDA emerged as the clear winner.
According to statistics provided by the Election Commission of India, AIMIM obtained 1.24 per cent of the more than 4 million votes polled, a growth from its performance in the Assembly elections in 2015, when it obtained less than 0.5 percent of the vote in Bihar.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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