Abu Azmi flays Congress for secular division

A day after chief minister Prithviraj Chavan conceded that Samajwadi Party (SP) probably ate into the vote support of the Congress-NCP, Mumbai and Maharashtra unit leader of SP Abu Asim Azmi flayed the Congress for failing to ally with him to prevent a division of the secular votes.

Azmi said that an alliance, which he was keen to forge but was ignored by the Congress, would have ensured a victory for the secular parties.

The SP contested the BMC polls in 118 seats and won nine — an improvement from its previous tally of seven. It came second in 11 seats.

In no mood to forgive the Congress, Azmi claimed that the Congress and Sena had an underhand deal. “Their fight is only for show. They have already agreed that the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI (Athawale) will rule in Mumbai and the Congress-NCP in the state.”

Azmi said he had made many attempts to form an alliance with the Congress and even tried to meet the CM.  “I even went to [AICC office bearer] Mohan Prakash, but the CM and Gurudas Kamat refused to talk to me.”

Azmi claimed that Congress Mumbai chief Kripashankar Singh was in favour of an alliance, but had failed to convince his bosses.
He insisted that his party was the only truly secular party in Mumbai, pointing that he had managed to get Marathi-speakers elected from areas dominated by north Indians and Muslims. “I voted for the Congress because in my locality, the other key candidates were from the Sena and MNS and I did not want them to win.”