Explained | The Owaisi factor in poll-bound Bengal
The AIMIM made a debut in the Bihar Assembly through the Kishanganj bypoll in October last year. Like Bihar, Owaisi has been working in West Bengal for quite some time. The AIMIM is gearing up for its new mission for which the party held its first meeting with its Bengal unit in Hyderabad on Saturday.
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AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. (Photo: PTI)
Bihar gave Asaduddin Owaisi a high five in the recently concluded Assembly elections, sending five All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislators to its House. From Bihar, Owaisi hopes to catapult his success into West Bengal where a high-stakes electoral battle is coming up.
Party also open to joining a third front
The State unit of the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen, led by Hyderabad-based leader Asaduddin Owaisi, on Tuesday made it clear that its first preference would be to join the DMK alliance. However, the party would not mind joining a ‘third front’, it said. The party has also opened channels of communication with smaller parties.
Persons privy to initial conversations between the AIMIM and Kamal Haasan’s MNM, said “feelers” for an alliance, sent by AIMIM, were rebuffed by the latter.
On reports that Mr. Owaisi had expressed willingness to form an alliance with MNM, Vakeel Ahmed, State president of AIMIM, said: “Our leader hasn’t spoken to anyone. When asked if he would join a third front if the first option doesn’t happen, he had said that we would consider joining it.”
BJP asked to clarify stand on corruption in State
Congress party has accused Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) of conspiring together to decimate it (Congress) in Telangana and further their political interests.
Speaking to newspersons here on Tuesday, Sangareddy legislator T. Jayaprakash (Jagga) Reddy said the three parties were working only for political gains while the Congress party alone was working towards resolving people’s problems. On Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s recent Delhi visit, he observed that his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah had political connotations as Mr. Rao called on Mr. Shah in spite of no law and order problem in the State.
Updated Dec 15, 2020 | 23:04 IST
The West Bengal CM also asked the Central government the difference between the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee | Photo Credit: ANI
Key Highlights
BJP has caught hold of a party from Hyderabad to divide minority votes: Banerjee
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched a blistering attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling its leaders a bunch of thieves and comparing them with dacoits of Chambal. She also asked the Central government the difference between the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged, without naming the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), that the party was on BJP’s payroll to divide minority votes in the Bengal elections.
Referring to the recent Bihar polls, Mamata at a public meeting in Jalpaiguri alerted her Trinamul leaders, workers and Bengal’s minority community to the AIMIM, which she referred to as “a party from Hyderabad”.
“The BJP is now bringing in a party from Hyderabad to divide minority votes….. You know what happened in Bihar. This party has assembled some people here as well.The party is on BJP’s payroll. Be alert,” Mamata said.