AIMIM seeks entry into Mahagathbandhan ahead of Bihar assembly elections
Patna: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, has expressed its willingness to join the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The current opposition alliance includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left parties.
AIMIM's Bihar state president and its lone MLA, Akhtarul Iman, has written a formal letter to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, requesting the inclusion of AIMIM in the alliance. Dated July 2, the letter emphasized that the party’s inclusion would help consolidate secular votes and bolster the opposition’s chances of forming the next government.
“Inclusion of AIMIM in Bihar’s version of the INDIA bloc will prevent division of secular votes and strengthen the fight against the BJP,” Iman stated in the letter, which was shared by party leaders on social media.
Iman also recalled that AIMIM had made efforts to join the alliance during the 2020 assembly elections. At that time, AIMIM had allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the now-defunct Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), securing five seats, mainly in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region. However, all but Iman later merged with the RJD in 2022.
In 2020, the Mahagathbandhan narrowly missed a majority by just a dozen seats. Political analysts had pointed to AIMIM’s presence in key constituencies as a contributing factor in the division of opposition votes.
So far, the RJD and other Mahagathbandhan allies have not issued a public response to AIMIM’s proposal.
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
