Lok Sabha polls: Owaisi brothers' party to field candidates in Maharashtra

After its success in Marathwada at the expense of the Congress-NCP, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) plans to put up candidates in Mumbai and Muslim dominated areas of Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha polls.

Minority leaders from the Congress and NCP admit the firebrand Owaisi brothers who run the party, have struck a chord in the Muslim youth and the AIMIM’s presence in the fray may affect their votes.

In a jolt to former chief minister Ashok Chavan, the Andhra Pradesh based AIMIM, whose leaders Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi and MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi had campaigned in Nanded, won 11 seats in the civic polls. The hardline party had campaigned on the neglect of the community and Muslim youth from Marathwada being picked up for alleged terror links.

“The AIMIM will be a strong political force in the 2014 polls…We are planning to contest most seats in Maharashtra,” AIMIM Maharashtra chief Syed Moin told dna. He added that seats in Mumbai, including the prestigious South Mumbai constituency which has a significant minority presence, Nanded, Parbhani, Solapur, Hingoli, Aurangabad, Amravati, Beed, Malegaon, Osmanabad and Dhule, were on their radar.

While attracting minority votes, the AIMIM may also help consolidate Hindu voters in communally sensitive areas. “Our votes will be divided, benefiting Shiv Sena-BJP,” admitted a senior Congress leader. “A number of people (across parties) are in touch with us. We will soon start an office in Mumbai,” said Moin, adding that Asaduddin Owaisi was planning a rally at communally sensitive Malegaon in Nashik in October and later in Mumbai.

The AIMIM plans to focus on Marathwada, which was earlier part of the Nizam state comprising Andhra Pradesh, and has a strong Muslim presence. The region accounts for 46 of Maharashtra’s 288 assembly constituencies, of which the Congress holds 18. Incidentally, the party has its roots in the pro-Nizam ‘Razakars’ who supported the Nizam of Hyderabad and resisted Hyderabad’s integration into India.

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