AIMIM to Contest Next Gujarat Assembly Elections, Announces Tie-Up With Bharatiya Tribal Party
"Bharatiya Tribal Party and AIMIM will contest together the next Assembly election in Gujarat. Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM chief) has asked me to visit Gujarat and hold discussions with BTP leaders," said Imtiaz Jaleel, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra's Aurangabad.
Mumbai, December 26: After its successful performance in Bihar, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has its eyes set on an array of other states, including Gujarat - a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bastion. The party has confirmed that it would contest the next assembly elections in the western state, scheduled to be held in 2022.
Senior AIMIM leader Imtiyaz Jaleel on Saturday announced that the party is entering into an alliance with the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) - a political group based in Rajasthan and Gujarat with two MLAs each in the respective state assemblies. Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021: AIMIM Likely to Forge Alliance With Kamal Haasan's MNM, Says Report.
"Bharatiya Tribal Party and AIMIM will contest together the next Assembly election in Gujarat. Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM chief) has asked me to visit Gujarat and hold discussions with BTP leaders," said Jaleel, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra's Aurangabad.
The BTP is part of the Opposition in Gujarat. The party was floated barely two months before the 2017 assembly elections by veteran state politician Chhotubhai Vasava. They also left a mark in the Rajasthan assembly polls that followed next year.
The party, earlier this month, announced its exit from the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan. The decision came shortly after newly-elected Congress members in Dungarpur zila parishad voted for the BJP nominee vying for pramukh’s post -- thereby denying the BTP candidate the chance to head the local body.
An anguished Vasava, while confirming the exit, said both the Congress and the BJP are "two sides of the same coin". He expressed the need to develop a separate leadership espousing the cause of tribals. Owaisi, the AIMIM president, has for long been seen as a leader attempting to form a rainbow political alliance of Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2020 08:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).