Bihar polls: AIMIM plans to go solo as GA snubs its proposal for a united front
The move comes after the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) showed little interest in AIMIM's proposal to jointly contest the elections to oust the incumbent NDA government, led by the Janata Dal (United).
'We had approached the GA constituents with a proposal to contest the assembly election under a united front against the NDA and Bharatiya Janata Party, but they are yet to respond,' Bihar AIMIM president Akhtarul Iman told HT.
He asserted that he would wait for a week more and then move forward to form a third front 'to give the people a much better alternative'.
Iman, called 'Junior Owaisi' in Seemanchal, has been a mass leader in Bihar, especially in the region.
'We have a strong base in Seemanchal, not only among Muslims but also Hindus, as we have been fighting for the holistic development of Seemanchal,' Iman said. 'We are holding talks with several regional parties so that we can give people an alternative.'
Earlier, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had declared Iman as the right person in Bihar to take any decision regarding contesting elections.
AIMIM sources said leaders within the party are in no mood to go to polls with GA. 'AIMIM and (Prashant Kishor's) Jan Suraaj both have the same objective in Bihar — to oust both NDA and GA from power,' a young AIMIM leader told HT.
In the 2020 assembly elections, AIMIM won five seats out of the 20 it had contested — all in the Seemanchal region where Muslims constitute a major part of the electorate. However, two years later in 2022, four of its MLAs switched camps and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), reducing its tally in the assembly to just one.
In the previous state polls, the AIMIM had joined hands with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP, with BSP securing one.
'AIMIM's gain will be the RJD's loss as Muslims are believed to be the traditional voters of RJD,' an RJD leader told HT requesting anonymity.
'AIMIM has a strong base in Seemanchal, comprising Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnia, with Muslim populations ranging from 30% to 70% and the party has already shown its might during the 2020 assembly elections when the RJD was prevented from coming into power. It is going to repeat this year as well if the party contests the poll independently,' political observers said.
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