New Delhi:
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen or AIMIM, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has joined the fray for Maharashtra, hoping to expand his niche in the western state. With an eye on Muslim and Dalit votes, the party is contesting 16 seats. Though it won only two seats in 2014 and 2019, its effect had extended to reducing Congress's non-BJP votes, prompting Maha Vikas Aghadi's claim that it was the 'B team' of the BJP is.
AIMIM won Malegaon Central and Dhule in 2019 after a contest on 44 seats, but spoiled the chances of Congress and Sharad Pawar's undivided NCP on a dozen seats.
This time, the party has fielded four Dalit and twelve Muslim candidates in Aurangabad Central, Aurangabad East, Mumbra-Kalwa (Thane), Malegaon Central, Dhule, Solapur, Nanded South, Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, Bhiwandi West, Karanja, Nagpur North, Byculla, Versova (Mumbai), Murtizapur (Akola), Kurla and Miraj (Sangli).
Most of these seats are located around Mumbai. Almost all seats have strong candidates from Congress, NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT).
The campaign is being led by party chief Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, with the slogan “Jai Bhim, Jai MIM”.
Mr Owaisi's obstacles have been multiplied by the Ulema board, which has supported the MVA with seventeen conditions.
The administration's main demands include a ban on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the BJP, and opposition to the Waqf Act.
Mr Owaisi believes that this move by the administration could lead to division in his Muslim vote bank. But such a split will hit the MVA even worse.