PATNA: What LJP led by Chirag Paswan was to CM and JD (U) boss Nitish Kumar, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin OwaisiThe AIMIM had been for the RJD and Mahagathbandhan in the Bihar assembly polls.
RJD National Vice President Shivanand Tiwari said Wednesday that he blamed AIMIM, preventing Mahagathbandhan from crossing the magic figure of 122 in the 243-member House. However, he admitted that the rise of AIMIM in the Seemanchal region consisting of the Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnia districts with a sizable Muslim population would pose a threat to the RJD and other secular parties in the future.
AIMIM has won five seats: Amour, Kochadhamam, Jokihat, Baisi and Bahadurganj. In the 2019 general assembly elections, he won the Kishanganj assembly seat, where Muslims are 70% of the population.
By contrast, the party performed poorly in the 2015 assembly polls when it contested six seats but won none. Votes mainly polarized along religious lines with the effort of political parties to fan religious sentiments during the electoral campaign.
Tiwari said: “RJD’s leadership will discuss and analyze the factors responsible for its overall performance in the recently concluded elections. But one thing is for sure that AIMIM damages us in many seats in the Seemanchal region ”. Calling Owaisi the ‘B’ team of the BJP-RSS, the socialist leader said that AIMIM fought in the elections at the behest of the BJP to defeat the Mahagathbandhan.
“If it hadn’t been the case, why didn’t the BJP never call Owaisi a ‘traitor’ or ‘anti-national’ despite the latter’s inflammatory speeches?” He asked. However, the state president of AIMIM’s youth wing, Adil Hasan Azad, denied the accusation, saying: “We have our own political agenda, as do other political parties in the country and in the state.”
Adil said that political parties registered with the electoral commission have the right to contest the polls in the country. “When other parties do this, there is no cry for it. But why is there so much fuss when AIMIM is in the fray in the Bihar polls? ” I ask.
Dealing with Congress, he said: “They have no moral rights to question our credibility. He contested the elections in Bihar with left-wing parties despite their political rivalry in Kerala. AIMIM had submitted 20 candidates, including 14 in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region. Analysts believe that had there been no Owaisi, Mahagathbandhan would have won the election.
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