Bihar Assembly Election: Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM, which failed to stitch an alliance with the INDIA bloc, is planning to form a third front and contest 100 seats in the upcoming Bihar Assembly Election, the party’s state-chief announced on Saturday.
Will AIMIM form a third front in Bihar?
“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,” AIMIM’s Bihar chief Akhtarul Iman told news agency PTI.
The AIMIM leader said his party had written to Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav to join the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, but did not receive any response, adding that they are now exploring the possibility of forming a third front with like-minded parties to offer a “third alternative” in Bihar, beyond the traditional BJP-led NDA and the Congress-RJD combine.
“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”, he said.
Iman said the AIMIM no longer seeks to align with ‘Mahagathbandhan’, which had in 2020 accused the party of splitting secular votes.
How AIMIM hurt RJD-BJP combine in last Bihar Assembly Election?
Notably, 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.
The party, headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, had won five seats in the previous Bihar Assembly Election, is widely regarded to have damaged the vote share of the RJD, Congress, and the Left combine in a number of other assembly segments.
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.
Why AIMIM is contesting Bihar polls?
Political observers believe the AIMIM sees a catchment area in Bihar, which has a significant Muslim population (over 17 percent), but have never got a proportionate representation in the state legislature.
Last month, Asaduddin Owaisi held his four-day long Seemanchal Nyay Yatra, covering districts like Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnea, which have a substantial Muslim population.
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.
Talking to reporters in Purnea, Owaisi had asserted that the AIMIM would contest the upcoming Bihar elections “to win” and the party’s desire for a tie-up with the INDIA bloc was not a sign of weakness. “We will be contesting the elections to win. However, there can not be a one-sided love affair in politics. Such things look good only in movies, between characters of college-going boys and girls”, the Hyderabad MP had said.
While 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.
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.