All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Imtiaz Jaleel has made a big statement on the alliance with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). He said on Saturday that the party has proposed an alliance to the MVA, if there is no response on September 9, then it will contest the elections on its own. Jaleel said that AIMIM wants to contest elections on those few seats where it has strong influence. He said that AIMIM feels that the BJP-led ruling alliance Mahayuti should not form the government in Maharashtra. Eknath’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party are the other constituents of this alliance.
Imtiaz Jaleel said that AIMIM and Shiv Sena (UBT) have different ideologies. Despite this, they are ready to form an alliance with MVA due to political compulsion and in the interest of the farmers and people of the state. Elections for the 288-member assembly in Maharashtra are likely to be held in a month or two. Jaleel said that AIMIM has had some discussions with the leaders of MVA (Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP) on its proposal to contest elections on those seats where the party is strong.
‘If you refuse to accompany me at the last moment then…’
The AIMIM leader said that the MVA had sought some time to discuss AIMIM’s proposal but that did not happen. He said that we have not proposed many seats. He said, ‘We have waited a lot. What if they refuse to take us along at the last moment? If they do not respond by September 9, we will start distributing forms to our interested candidates. We will decide how many seats AIMIM will contest in the state. We are reviewing our position.’
AIMIM candidates won 2 seats in 2019
In the last election of 2019, AIMIM contested 44 seats in which it won 2. BJP then got 105, undivided NCP 56, Shiv Sena 54 and Congress 44 seats. Imtiaz Jaleel said, ‘It seems that they want only three chairs on the stage. Of Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Nana Patole (state Congress chief). They do not want us to be the fourth party on the stage.’ It is known that Jamtiaz Jaleel represents Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat. He said that his party will not benefit much from an alliance with MVA, but if it does not take AIMIM along, the opposition alliance may suffer huge losses.
