Will contest 100 seats, provide third alternative to Bihar: AIMIM
Patna (PTI): The AIMIM, which has been spurned by the INDIA bloc in Bihar, on Saturday said it was planning to contest around 100 seats in the upcoming state assembly polls, five times the number it had fought in the last elections.
The party, headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, claimed that it was aiming to build a "third alternative" in Bihar, where politics has, for years, been all about the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-RJD combine.
Talking to PTI-Bhasha, the AIMIM's state president Akhtarul Iman said, "Our plan is to contest 100 seats. Both the NDA and the 'Mahagathbandhan' (the name by which the INDIA bloc is known in Bihar) will be forced to realise our presence."
He also claimed that the 'Mahagathbandhan', which had in 2020 accused the AIMIM of splitting secular votes, can no longer do so.
"It is now common knowledge that I wrote to (RJD president) Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, expressing willingness for a tie-up. But no response came.
"Now, we must do all that we can to expand our footprints. Yes, we are also in talks with like-minded parties to explore the possibility of a third front. It will all be clear in a few days", said the AIMIM leader.
The elections to the 243-member Bihar assembly will be held on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will take place on November 14.
The AIMIM had contested the 2020 assembly polls in alliance with former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's BSP and the now-abolished Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, headed by ex-Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, who has since floated a new outfit, Rashtriya Lok Morcha, and joined the NDA.
In the last assembly polls, the AIMIM had won five seats and was understood to have damaged the RJD, Congress, and the Left combine in a number of other assembly segments.
In 2022, however, four MLAs of the AIMIM joined the RJD.
Iman, who had himself previously been in the RJD as well as the JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, is now the lone legislator of the AIMIM.
According to political observers, the AIMIM sees a catchment area in Bihar, where Muslims are more than 17 per cent of the total population but have never got a proportionate representation in the state legislature.
Last month, Owaisi flew down to the Seemanchal region and toured, over a course of four days, districts like Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnea, which have a substantial population of the minority community.
Although Owaisi has been charging the RJD, JD(U) and the Congress with apathy towards Muslims, the barrister-politician is, in turn, accused of being "a B team of the BJP", which cuts into "secular votes" to help the saffron party.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Modi says 'don't go abroad,' but flies off on trips himself: Mann's jibe at PM
Chandigarh (PTI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his appeal to people to postpone foreign travels when he himself did not stop going abroad.
Modi on Sunday in his address to the nation called for judicious use of fuel, postponing gold purchases and foreign travel due to the West Asia crisis. He urged the people to use the metro, carpooling, increased use of electric vehicles and working from home to conserve foreign exchange.
Speaking to reporters here, Mann said, "First, the prime minister should stop his foreign visits. Where is he now? He has gone to the Netherlands. He will visit 3-4 more countries. He has asked people to avoid but he still went (on foreign visits). You are shutting down everything... do not buy gold, do not undertake foreign visits, work from home."
He asked, "Why doesn't the PM work from home?"
The Punjab chief minister also took on the BJP-led Centre for increasing prices of petrol and diesel.
"We were to become 'vishwaguru' but we have become 'vishwachele'. The war is happening somewhere else but restrictions are being imposed here. Why has no other country implemented it (restrictions)?" he asked.
Mann said people across the country are struggling with inflation, rising transport costs and increasing household expenditure, but instead of providing relief, the Centre is asking citizens to reduce personal spending.
"Thankfully, the PM only advised people to save money and didn't ask them to beat 'thalis' and clap again," he said in a dig.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader asserted that instead of symbolic gestures and lectures, people expect practical steps to control inflation and reduce the financial burden on households, farmers and small businesses.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by Rs 3 per litre each on Friday, the first rate increase in more than four years, amid mounting losses to fuel retailers due to surging global crude prices.
Modi has reduced the size of his convoy, prompting several BJP chief ministers and other leaders to adopt similar measures.
The prime minister is on a six-day tour of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy to discuss bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, on the Bhakra water-sharing issue, Mann asserted that Punjab will preserve its water rights at every cost. He said Haryana would receive water strictly according to its legally scheduled quota and not before the stipulated timeline.
"Punjab will not compromise on its water rights under any pressure," he said. The chief minister said water is an emotional, economic and agricultural lifeline for Punjab and his government is fully committed to protecting every drop.
Punjab has no spare water to share with any other state, he said.
To a question on the upcoming local body polls, Mann said his party will be victorious.
Mann praised his government's work on the job and infrastructure front, and attacked Shiromani Akali Dal, claiming that the party steadily lost both public support and credibility due to years of political decline and disconnect from people's aspirations.
Akalis no longer command the trust they once enjoyed among Punjabis, he said.
