Congress MLA Praniti Shinde hits out at MIM

Congress MLA Praniti Shinde has taken on the MIM -- which opened its account in Maharashtra in the recently held assembly elections by winning two seats -- by calling it anti-national and seeking a ban on it.

Speaking in the Solapur district last evening, Praniti, the daughter of Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde, said that MIM had a divisive agenda. "I am not speaking against any specific community. But if a party talks about dividing the communities, they are speaking against India," she said.

"Not only in Solapur, but they have made inflammatory comments in other places in Maharashtra, in Hyderabad and in Andhra Pradesh," said, Shinde, the MLA from Solapur city-central. Notably, Shinde won from her constituency with a modest margin of 9,000 votes, while MIM's Taufiq Shaikh won second-highest number of votes.

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi today told a TV channel that he would file a criminal defamation suit against Shinde if she did not take her statements back and apologies. Owaisi alleged Shinde had been hurt by her diminished popularity and her statements reflected her frustration.

"She should know that Solapur is a part of India and not her property. Our candidate has come second and her popularity has gone down. That is why she is making such comments," he said.