‘Not B team of BJP’: AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel says party ready to ally with NCP and Congress
There is no room for a fourth partner in the Maharashtra government, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Imtiaz Jaleel said that his party is willing to ally with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress in Maharashtra, PTI reported.
Jaleel said that he conveyed the idea to Nationalist Congress Party leader Rajesh Tope on Friday, PTI reported.
However, he clarified that Tope has not responded to his offer.
“It is always alleged that the BJP wins because of us [AIMIM – due to splitting of Muslim votes],” he said. “To prove this allegation wrong I proposed to Tope that we are ready for an alliance.”
Jaleel, who heads the Maharashtra unit of AIMIM, said that he was waiting to see if the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party would join hands with them.
The two parties, Jaleel alleged, had said that the AIMIM is the “B team of BJP”.
The Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress are part of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.
“We are giving them [Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party] a chance [to ally] as they call us the ‘B’ team [of BJP],” Jaleel said, according to PTI.
Jaleel also claimed that the AIMIM had offered to form an alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the Uttar Pradesh polls.
“But they wanted votes of Muslims and not Asaduddin Owaisi [AIMIM chief],” he said. “In Maharashtra, these parties [Congress and Nationalist Congress Party] want votes of Muslims but not the AIMIM. You blame us for BJP’s victory. I propose that then let us contest the elections together.”
Maharashtra’s Nationalist Congress Party chief Jayant Patil on Saturday said that AIMIM should prove it can be considered a like-minded party and should give up its provocative language, PTI reported.
‘AIMIM has secret alliance with BJP’
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut refuted all claims of alliance with the AIMIM, NDTV reported.
“The AIMIM has a secret alliance with the BJP which was proved in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal elections,” he alleged. “The AIMIM is a ‘B’ team of the BJP and will remain so. The MVA is a three-party alliance and there is no room for a fourth partner.”