All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi rubbished the charge that his party’s entry into political scene in Bihar and earlier in Maharashtra and Bengaluru has aided the growth of BJP.
Referring to Bengaluru civic polls in which his party contested only in 28 seats, he said that the Congress, sans the presence of his party, had failed to pose a strong challenge to BJP in the remaining 170 seats.
Addressing a meeting at the party’s headquarters here, Mr. Owaisi, referring to senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s statement that MIM’s entry in Bihar polls had boosted vote share of BJP, said that he would send a legal notice to him.
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Mr. Singh had also alleged earlier that AIMIM had received financial aid from the BJP. “I know my share of law and I would expect you to prove the veracity of your allegations against me,” he said, adding he will not turn back from his decision to enter the fray in Bihar.
Also mocking the Congress leadership of voicing their protest against MIM’s pan India political approach, Mr. Owaisi said as a citizen of the country, he would lead the party to any State in India.
Taking a dig at Nitish Kumar, Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Prasad for not eradicating poverty in Bihar, Mr. Owaisi reiterated his political interests in Seemanchal region of Bihar. “Young children from Seemanchal region of Bihar come to Hyderabad and other cities as urban labourers because of poverty,” he alleged.
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Expressing the larger political stand of MIM, he said: We root for politics which takes Dalits, Muslims and OBCs together.
Dropping a hint that MIM will enter the fray in Legislative Assembly elections, the Hyderabad MP said he will address public meetings and undertake padayatras in Karnataka at the right time. Mr. Owaisi also mocked the Prime Minister’s meeting with Sufi scholars, stating that if his intentions were genuine, Mr. Modi would not have allowed the demolition of a Sufi shrine in Vadodra in 2006.