Lok Sabha elections 2019: ‘Contesting is not the birthright of Congress alone’

‘Does that mean that any party other than the Congress and NCP will be treated as team B of the BJP? Is contesting only the birthright of the Congress, while others should just support them?’

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is contesting only one seat in the state, through the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), a front floated by Prakash Ambedkar. Imtiyaz Jaleel, a sitting MLA and the face of the party in Maharashtra, is fighting from Aurangabad, making it a triangular fight between the Shiv Sena, Congress and VBA. Excerpts from an interview:

There are allegations that your front is helping the BJP by eating into the votes of the Opposition. (HT Photo)

The AIMIM had said it will not contest the Lok Sabha elections. What made you change the stand?

Pressure from people of Aurangabad and across the state compelled us to change the decision. Aurangabad is one of the bastions of our party after Hyderabad, as we have 25 corporators and one MLA in the city. We have one more MLA in Mumbai and a total of 125 corporators in various civic bodies. In this backdrop, there was a lot of pressure on us to contest and party chief Asaduddin Owaisi decided to change the decision. I am happy that not only Muslims, but youths from various communities and backgrounds – doctors, professionals and industrialists – are coming forward in my support. We are not asking for votes on the basis of caste or religion.

There are allegations that your front is helping the BJP by eating into the votes of the Opposition. Comment.

Does that mean that any party other than the Congress and NCP will be treated as team B of the BJP? Is contesting only the birthright of the Congress, while others should just support them? In Aurangabad, the Congress-NCP couldn’t defeat the Sena for 20 years, even when we were not on the political arena.

How will you solve the issues in Aurangabad?

The city is lagging behind other cities in terms of development. We don’t even have basic amenities such as water supply, sanitation, roads and dumping facilities for solid waste management. The city has the tag of “sensitive city” and no party has tried to erase it.

You have been alleging that the BJP-led government has been doing injustice to Marathwada to favour Vidarbha. Elaborate.

I have said this on the floor of the Assembly that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis behaves like the CM of Vidarbha and not the entire state. As the BJP could not fulfil the 2014 poll promise of a separate Vidarbha, they diverted our funds to that region as compensation. The government has been talking about the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, but owing to poor planning, not a single big industry has come there. There is Maharashtra National Law University here, but it is being operated from rented premises, with poor infrastructure. The IIT was shifted out of Aurangabad and taken to Vidarbha. The CM announced in 2015 that they will set up the School of Planning and Architecture in Aurangabad. Nothing has been done so far. Had the government acted in time, thousands of youths would have got jobs.

Are you using crowdfunding to get money your campaign?

Some candidates get funding from contractors, companies and builders, but we haven’t got any such support. There are candidates who spend ₹1 crore daily. It is not possible for me. Common people are chipping in small amounts of ₹2,000, ₹3,000 for my campaign. We did not want to contest as it would need huge money.