Owaisi hits back at Prashant Kishor for asking him to stay out of Bihar politics

I have been coming here (Seemanchal) to show you all leaders what you have done to Bihar: Asaduddin Owaisi

Kishanganj: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday hit back at political strategist Prashant Kishor for advising him to stay out of Bihar politics and focus on developing his Hyderabad constituency in Telangana.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi addressed three election meetings in Bihar’s Kishanganj.

Addressing three election meetings in Bihar’s Kishanganj, Owaisi said, “I have been coming here (Seemanchal) to show you all leaders what you have done to Bihar.”

He alleged that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, and later the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United), have ruled the state, but the per capita income of the people of Bihar is still the lowest in the country.

“Nitish has been changing in Bihar, but I am still the same as I was 11 years ago when I first came here. I have tasted both successes and failures during these years, but I have never left you like these leaders,” Owaisi said, adding, “Nitish Kumar is stuck in Rajgir while Lalu Prasad has only one goal — to make his son chief minister.”

Kishor, during his election campaigning in Kishanganj on Tuesday, allegedly advised Owaisi to focus on his Hyderabad constituency rather than venture into Bihar’s Seemanchal region. He said that “sons of Seemanchal should be leaders of Seemanchal” and added that Muslims here will not commit the mistake of 2020.

The AIMIM had won five seats from the minority-dominated Seemanchal region in the 2020 elections.

Owaisi, who is again contesting the Bihar elections on his own after failing to strike a deal with the opposition bloc, addressed three election meetings — at Bahadurganj for his party candidate Md Tauseef Alam, at Thakurganj for his party nominee Ghulam Hasnain, and for Shamsh Agaz, who is contesting the Kishanganj assembly seat.

The AIMIM has fielded 25 candidates in Bihar, including 14 from Seemanchal’s four districts — Purnea, Katihar, Araria, and Kishanganj — a region with a substantial Muslim population ranging from 30% to 70%, and currently represented by 11 Muslim MLAs. Seemanchal has 24 assembly seats out of Bihar’s 243.

Seemanchal goes to the polls on November 11, while the counting of votes will be held on November 14.