Congress will not teach us secularism, said Asaduddin Owaisi (Archive)
Patna:
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, whose AIMIM has formed a separate front with former trade union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav for the Bihar elections, dismissed the charge of fighting state polls to help the BJP, saying it is rather due to the RJD that the NDA led by the saffron party has been winning in the state.
Owaisi also attacked Congress, saying in Maharashtra that he contested the polls with All India Majlis-eIttehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), but then joined Shiv Sena “demolitioners of the Babri mosque” to form a coalition government in the West. state.
“Congress will not teach us secularism,” the Hyderabad deputy told PTI-Bhasha in an interview in Patna.
Owaisi left Patna on Sunday after spending two days discussing his front’s strategy for state elections.
Making a scathing attack on the RJD for calling it a “vote katua” (spoiler) of secular votes, the AIMIM chief asked how his party was responsible for his complete defeat in the 2019 general elections in Bihar, which he claims as his “garh ” ( strong).
Mr. Owaisi and Mr. Yadav, who leads Samajwadi Janata Dal (D), have formed UDSA (United Democratic Secular Alliance) for the October-November state elections.
“What happened to these so-called ‘thekedars’ (feudal lords) of the anti-BJP votes in the 2019 general elections in Bihar?” he asked while mocking the RJD-Congress for asserting themselves as the champions of minorities and secular votes in Bihar.
“I don’t understand on what basis they claim exclusive ownership of Muslim votes in Bihar,” he said while attacking the RJD and the big party, allies in Mahagathbandhan.
The Grand Alliance comprising RJD, Congress and some smaller regional parties had been beaten up in the last parliamentary elections in Bihar by the NDA, which won all but one of Kisanganj’s seats out of a total of 40 seats in the state. .
Congress had taken the Kisanganj seat, while Lalu Prasad’s party for the first time had not even opened its account in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
Before the current elections in Bihar, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha, RLSP and just two days ago the Vikashheel Insaan Party (VIP) parted ways with the grand alliance.
Owaisi said they are in contact with several other anti-NDA and anti-grand alliance parties to fight the state elections with greater force.
When asked if they were holding talks with Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chairman Upendra Kushwaha, who has presented a tripartite front with the Mayawati BSP for the Bihar elections, the head of AIMIM said the USDA coordinator , Devendra Yadav, is holding parliaments with other parties.
He said the people of Bihar saw 15 years of “bad governance” by RJD and an equal period during the government of Prime Minister Nitish Kumar, who “did not achieve” any substantial change in the state.
“The people of Bihar feel suffocated today due to the misrule of the two main alliances in the past and are looking for a better alternative … we will try to fulfill their hope with a strong coalition of secular forces,” said the head of AIMIM.
After winning a seat in the Muslim-dominated Kisanganj assembly in elections earlier this year, Owaisi’s party is interested in fighting against some seats in the Seemanchal areas that have a large population of community members. minority to increase its presence in Bihar.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
.
