The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen on Friday discontinued discussions regarding alliance with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi after only eight seats were offered to the former for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, PTI reported. The party’s state unit chief Imtiyaz Jaleel said that the two parties were unable to come to a “comfortable and respectable figure” of seat distribution even though talks lasted for about two months.

“VBA conveyed that they could allot only eight seats out of the 288 assembly seats in the Maharashtra assembly to AIMIM as alliance partner,” the party’s press release said. “This is simply unacceptable and unjustified as the list does not include the sitting seat of AIMIM in Aurangabad Central.” Jaleel, who is the Aurangabad Lok Sabha MP, was the sitting MLA from the Aurangabad Central seat before he won the General Elections from the city.

Another AIMIM leader Gaffar Qadri also had a number of meetings with Ambedkar, including the last one on Thursday in Pune, where he had been informed about the decision, Jaleel said. An email was also sent to AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi about the seat sharing, he added.

In 2014, the party had contested 24 seats in the state Assembly polls with two MLAs winning from Aurangabad and Byculla, Jaleel said, adding that they had been ranked second or third in nine seats. “Today our party has about 150 corporators, councillors across Maharashtra from different castes and communities,” the release said. “In Aurangabad Municipal Corporation where we have 26 corporators, our leader of opposition and the group leader in AMC are both from the SC category.”

AIMIM, however, said that they respected and honoured Ambedkar, and wished his party for the elections. “Irrespective of the alliance, we shall continue to take up the cause of the oppressed classes and weaker sections of society,” IANS reported, citing the press release.

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