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‘One-sided love is not…’: Owaisi on joining INDIA bloc for Bihar assembly elections
AIMIM had won 5 seats in Bihar in the 2020 elections, giving a dent to the opposition alliance. However, four of its five MLAs later defected to the RJD.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday said his party would not join the INDIA bloc for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar.
Owaisi has said that his party will be contesting the Bihar assembly polls while focusing on the Seemanchal region, where the AIMIM has a presence, news agency PTI reported.
AIMIM had won 5 seats in Bihar in the 2020 elections, giving a dent to the opposition alliance. However, four of its five MLAs later defected to the RJD.
Owaisi's remark comes after his party AIMIM sent a proposal to join the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, but did not receive an enthusiastic response. Owaisi cited past experiences and the allegations against his party as the reason for his decision.
“One-sided love is not going to happen,” Owaisi said, adding that the “accusations” against his party were “based on lies”. He further alleged that the INDIA bloc does not want a leader of the “poor and oppressed”, and suggested that they want their dominance over the people of Bihar to continue, according to PTI.
“They just want you to remain their slaves, to walk behind them with your head bowed,” Owaisi said.
‘Should try to form a third front’: Owaisi
Owaisi said that AIMIM's Bihar unit president Akhtarul Iman had flated the idea of forming a third front for the Bihar polls, which he said was an “effort” from his party.
While expressing confidence that his party would contest the elections well and highlighting Iman's suggestion of a ‘third front’, Owaisi said, “Everything has come before the people of Bihar for a reason”.
Owaisi on electoral rolls controversy: ‘SIR is NRC through the back door’
While opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls before Bihar elections, Owaisi took a jibe at the Election Commission.
“Who gave the ECI the power to determine whether someone is a citizen or not?,” Owaisi questioned. He added that AIMIM was the first to say that “SIR is NRC through the back door”.
Owaisi also launched criticism at the poll body for not making official statements. “It is unfortunate that a constitutional body is not making a statement and things are being revealed through sources,” he said.
The Supreme Court had on July 10 permitted the EC to continue SIR of the electoral rolls, while urging the poll body to allow Aadhaar cards, ration cards and electoral photo identity cards as admissible documents to confirm voter identity.
