However, the TMC supremo did not name AIMIM specifically.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, at an address in Cooch Behar, warned the TMC party workers and leaders against Asaduddin Owaisi's party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) without explicitly taking any names. She implied that the AIMIM is teaming up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), even claiming that the AIMIM takes money from the saffron party.
In the recently conducted Legislative Assembly bypolls, AIMIM won a seat at the Kishanganj constituency of Bihar's Purnia district, which itself is adjoining West Bengal. Following this, several posters of the AIMIM were found to be plastered all over Cooch Behar, where the party claimed that the wait was over and that next contest in line was West Bengal. This surprised local leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress, since AIMIM is generally known to be a party centred in Hyderabad. Now, following Mamata Banerjee's warning against the party, political commentators are trying to find the significance in this sequence of events.
However, the TMC supremo did not name AIMIM specifically. Without naming Owaisi's party, she said, "There is a political party... just like there are some extremists in Hindus, same with minorities. They take money from the BJP. They stay in Hyderabad, not here. Don't fall into the trap, my minority brothers."
Cooch Behar has often seen an MP from the Congress or All India Forward Bloc. However, in 2014, Mamata's party leader won the seat, but in 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP registered a victory in Cooch Behar.
According to political commentators, the AIMIM can claim a significant share of the Muslim vote bank in West Bengal if TMC becomes inactive, which explains Mamata's insecurity since she has, on numerous counts, narrated that the Muslim vote bank is crucial for her. Therefore, she raised eyebrows at a possible link between the BJP and the AIMIM at disabling the TMC in the state for their own purposes and warned minorities against the potential.
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