MIM to lead a third front with Ambedkarite parties

Pune: In a first, Asaduddin Owaisi-led Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) will lead a third front in the polls to Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, in alliance with several Ambedkarite parties.

The MIM has allied with the People’s Republic Party, the Bahujan Republican Socialist Party and the Republican Yuva Morcha.

Anjum Inamdar, the president of the MIM’s Western Maharashtra unit, said, “We have formed this alliance as a secular alternative to the divisive politics of the BJP and the hollow promises made by the erstwhile Congress-NCP coalition during their 15-year-rule in the State; and the NCP’s present leadership in the municipal corporations,”

The alliance is expected to bag the Muslim votes that earlier went to Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.

The front has already finalised seat-sharing arrangements for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) polls. It will contest 126 seats, with the MIM contesting 55 of these.

The MIM first made a mark in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections, when it bagged two seats. It received 25 seats in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation in 2015 and emerged as the major opposition party.

According to Mr. Inamdar, the party has been tacking issues, at ward level, which they feel have been ignored by the Congress and the NCP in the past and the BJP at present.

The alliance is hoping for gains in the Hadapsar Assembly constituency, notably in the Muslim-dominated areas of Kondhwa and Yerwada. The MIM failed to win the Kondhwa seat in the PMC bypoll in November 2015. The party is confident of winning this seat in the upcoming polls.

Slum rehabilitation

People living in slums and shanties comprise more than 33 per cent of the city’s population. The alliance plans to target these areas and campaign on slum rehabilitation, among other issues.

“Of the 553 slum pockets [in the city], barely nine have been rehabilitated so far despite the decade-long promises of the NCP. The people living here feel the need for a new leadership. Our workers have been raising awareness about these issues since past several months,” Mr. Inamdar said.

The MIM plans to hold nearly 15 rallies across 10 municipal corporations, where Mr. Owaisi will deliver a speech to mobilise party supporters.

Mr. Owaisi, along with his brother and MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, is scheduled to hold three public addresses in Pune, according to party sources.