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.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
