After a largely unspectacular performance in the recently concluded civic polls in Maharashtra, Asaduddin Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Monday dissolved his party’s State core committee.
In a letter to the core committee members of his party in Maharashtra, Mr. Owaisi lauded their efforts which produced decent gains for the AIMIM in the civic polls. Party sources said the ostensible reason behind the dissolution was that the core committee had been set-up for the express purpose of the civic polls only.
However, despite the party making humble, though steady inroads in civic corporations, the real reason behind the dissolution appears to be the party’s failure to live up to the high expectations, namely in the Pune, Solapur and Mumbai civic polls.
At the same time, the party is facing internal discord. In Latur, disgruntled AIMIM activists burnt effigies of the Owaisi brothers and AIMIM legislator Imtiaz Jaleel. In Pune, AIMIM leader Zuber Shaikh accused Mr. Jaleel of taking bribes during the ticket allocation. Mr. Shaikh, who headed the party’s Pune unit, was dismissed from the party.
The AIMIM, which cornered the Congress’s and NCP’s minority votes in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) election, polled nearly 74, 000 votes (1.26 % of the total vote share) despite winning only one seat. The party contested on only 21 seats in the PMC polls. The AIMIM secured a total 26 seats in elections to 10 civic bodies across the State.
