AIMIM should not contest Bihar polls to defeat BJP: RJD

Time of India

6 hours ago

Patna:
RJD
MP and chief spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha on Friday urged
Asaduddin Owaisi
not to field candidates in Bihar and avoid splitting the secular votes if he wanted the BJP to lose the assembly election.
Jha told reporters in Patna on Friday that not contesting elections is also helpful.
"Owaisi knows this and his advisors also know it. If your intention is to defeat BJP and defeat the politics of hatred, then the decision of not contesting the Bihar elections will also be a similar one," the RJD MP said.
Earlier, RJD leader
Tejashwi Prasad Yadav
on Friday shared on social media the letter written to his party chief Lalu Prasad by
AIMIM
state president Akhtarul Iman to seek public opinion whether the opposition Mahagathbandhan should include the party led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi to contest the Bihar election.
Iman had written to Lalu on July 2, requesting him to include AIMIM into the opposition bloc of RJD, Congress, Left and VIP to defeat BJP and avoid the split of votes. Owaisi also expressed this desire saying the opposition blames AIMIM for splitting anti-BJP votes in every election.
Tejashwi, who is the opposition bloc coordination committee chairman, already has to face tough negotiations on seat sharing with Congress, Left and VIP of Mukesh Sahani.
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Though AIMIM has a substantial support base in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region and won five seats in the 2020 elections, Tejashwi will find it difficult to accommodate Owaisi's party, which will mean slicing the other alliance partners' seats.
Iman on June 30 said the AIMIM was exploring options to float a third front as his request to RJD and Congress fell on deaf ears and he had no choice but to contest the coming election with other like-minded people.
Iman also had a meeting with Akhil Bhartiya Paan Mahasangh president I P Gupta, who claims his Tanti-Tantwa community has 5 crore population in the country. But after that, Iman made another attempt by writing a letter to Lalu.
In the 2020 assembly elections, Owaisi had formed the Grand Democratic Secular Front with Mayawati's BSP, Upendra Kushwaha's then RLSP and some other small parties. Then AIMIM contested 19 seats and won 5 from three districts of Seemanchal.
Tejashwi later included 4 of the AIMIM MLAs in RJD.
Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Friday publicly shared a letter written to his father and party chief Lalu Prasad by AIMIM's Bihar unit president, Akhtarul Iman, seeking public opinion on whether the opposition Mahagathbandhan should include Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's party for the upcoming
Bihar assembly elections
.
In the letter dated July 2, Iman appealed to Lalu to include AIMIM in the opposition bloc, comprising RJD, Congress, Left parties and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), to consolidate anti-BJP votes and avoid a damaging split.
Owaisi himself has echoed this sentiment, stating that his party is repeatedly blamed for dividing secular votes during elections.
Tejashwi, who heads the coordination committee of the Mahagathbandhan, is already grappling with tense negotiations over seat-sharing with existing allies like Congress, the Left and Mukesh Sahani's VIP. While AIMIM holds considerable influence in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region, having won five seats in the 2020 assembly polls, its inclusion could complicate matters further by reducing seat quotas for current allies.
In light of this, RJD MP and party's chief spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha on Friday appealed to Owaisi to consider not contesting the Bihar elections, in order to protect secular unity. "Even the decision not to contest elections can be helpful," Jha told reporters in Patna. "Owaisi knows this, and so do his advisors. If your aim is to defeat the BJP and stop the politics of hatred, then refraining from contesting in Bihar would serve that very purpose," he said.
Notably, on June 30, Akhtarul Iman said that AIMIM was exploring the possibility of forming a third front after failing to receive a response from RJD and Congress. He also met with Akhil Bhartiya Paan Mahasangh president I.P. Gupta, who claims that the Tanti-Tantwa community, recently removed from the SC category, has a population of five crore nationwide. Despite this, Iman made another attempt to join the opposition alliance by writing to Lalu.
In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, AIMIM had allied with Mayawati's BSP, Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP and other smaller outfits to form the Grand Democratic Secular Front. The party contested 19 seats and won five, primarily from the Seemanchal region. However, Tejashwi later managed to induct four of AIMIM's MLAs into the RJD fold, reducing Owaisi's foothold in the state.