The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's (AIMIM) on Wednesday hit back at Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee refuting her chargesthat it was the “B team” of the BJP saying that all parties had the right to work according to their goal.
Referring to Banerjee’s attack on AIMIM and its leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Bengal AIMIM spokesperson Imran Solanki said that his party had been working in the region for the past several years and had gain considerable ground which was why it had decided to contest elections to further its political goals. “There is nothing that others should be jealous of,” he said.
Banerjee had earlier said that “there are some parties funded by the BJP which are coming from Hyderabad to cut votes in this State so as to enable them to win the elections … it is time you understand their nefarious designs and reject them.”
Banerjee said “the BJP is trying to isolate the Hindu votes and the AIMIM is playing the Muslim card to win Muslim votes … then what will I do will I eat,” saying how the AIMIM played the catalyst in the loss of secular parties like the RJD in Bihar. Reacting to her statements the AIMIM leader wondered why BJP could win so many seats parliamentary in 2019 when the Hyderabad-based party was not in the fray. “The BJP won 18 seats when we were not there in 2019. How could they win those seats… now she is blaming us… we have come to contest elections and if we are asked we will use our organization to fight elections.”
The Muslims who have a good 30 percent vote in Bengal can impact election results in more than 125 seats in the State. The TMC leadership however said that as AIMIM only had impact on the Urdu-speaking Muslims and they were culturally different from the Bengali-speaking Muslims it was the TMC that will get their votes.