NEW DELHI: Ahead of the final phase of polling in Bihar on November 7, the Congress has targeted AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and termed him the B team of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress attack comes ahead of voting in Seemanchal where the minority votes are in sizeable numbers. The Congress said when the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) was contesting on only nine seats in Telangana then how was it contesting on so many seats in other states.
Congress Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala while addressing the media in Bihar's Purnia said, "AIMIM is contesting on 24 seats in Seemanchal, to help who, which means he is helping BJP indirectly."
"In Telangana, the AIMIM is in alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which supports the BJP and in Bihar it has an alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP). The BSP has openly announced its support to the BJP", said Surjewala.
The Congress said the AIMIM is contesting to help the BJP and split the votes. The party questioned who is helping Owaisi to organize big events and use choppers after Narendra Modi came to power.
Responding to the Congress charge, Owaisi said: "I am used to hearing such things from both the BJP and the Congress. Take my life, but I won't leave Seemanchal. We live in the heart of Seemanchal now."
The Seemanchal and Kosi regions in Bihar are expected to provide a good opportunity to all the political parties, big or small. Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar, Supaul are considered Muslim dominant areas, apart from the presence of the Yadav, OBC and upper caste communities. Such an equation becomes favourable even for the smaller parties. Besides, these areas are also flood-affected, hence their youth migrate in large numbers.
All these factors encourage leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi, Upendra Kushwaha, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, Sudip Pandey to campaign aggressively here and raise local issues to gain votes for their candidates.
The AIMIM managed to open its account from Kishanganj district in 2015. The RLSP bagged two seats in 2015.
In the ongoing 2020 Assembly elections, the AIMIM is contesting on 20 seats and the majority of them are in Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnea and Araria districts. The RLSP is also contesting on 104 seats, the NCP is contesting on 145 seats and a major chunk of their candidates are contesting from Seemanchal district.