PATNA: Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said that it would form third front ahead of Bihar assembly elections in the absence of a positive response from the Opposition INDIA bloc on alignment with AIMIM.
AIMIM state president Akhtarul Iman said that he was hopeful of positive response from INDIA bloc on alignment with AIMIM to defeat the BJP-led NDA in state assembly elections.
“Discussions were held on the matter, but there is no further development,” he told the media.
However, he asserted that the INDIA bloc would not be able to dethrone the NDA in Bihar if the division of secular votes was not stopped.
“A stronger alliance is required to defeat NDA in the upcoming assembly elections in the State,” the AIMIM state president said.
In response to a media query, he said that AIMIM was not invited to the meeting of the INDIA bloc subcommittee held in the state capital on June 30 to discuss the release of a common election manifesto.
“We were not invited to earlier meetings either,” he clarified. Iman said that the primary goal of the Opposition coalition would be to dethrone the BJP-led NDA from power in Bihar.
“We have a strong support base in the Seemanchal region. We will field our candidates from the seats in the Seemanchal region if our proposal for alignment with the INDIA bloc is turned down,” he remarked.
Seemanchal region comprises Kishanganj, Purnea, Katihar and Araria districts where AIMIM has a strong network of grassroot activists. In 2020 assembly election, AIMIM had won five seats in Seemanchal region, although four MLAs later defected to RJD, which was a major setback for the party.
Iman said that AIMIM’s willingness to join hands with INDIA bloc should not be construed as weakness.
“We want to contest elections together to ensure the defeat of the ruling dispensation in Bihar,” he added. He did not rule out the possibility of AIMIM fielding its candidates in other regions apart from Seemanchal if the INDIA bloc partners did not agree to a partnership.
In the 2020 assembly election, AIMIM had formed the Grand Democratic Secular Front with former union ministers, then RLSP, Mayawati’s BSP, former minister Devendra Prasad Yadav’s SJDD, Om Prakash Rajbhar’s SBSP and Sanjay Chauhan’s Janwadi Party.
RLSP had contested 104 seats, BSP 80, SJDD 25, AIMIM 19, among others. Only AIMIM could win five seats and BSP one.
