AIMIM eyes seat at Mahagathbandhan table for Bihar polls: 'Our fight with BJP same as Congress's'

The AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi is eying an alliance with the Mahagathbandhan for the Bihar polls. (File/PTI)alliance with the B

The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is looking find a place in the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and Left parties for the coming Bihar Assembly elections scheduled to be held in October-November this year.

Party leaders in the state have been in touch with leaders of the RJD and were positive about forging an alliance. "We are interested in having an alliance with the Mahagathbandhan. "Our ideology is to defeat the BJP and empower Bihar. Our fight with the BJP is same as Congress’s. We want the grand alliance to take AIMIM on board," AIMIM national spokesperson Adil Hasan told The Indian Express.

AIMIM leaders said no official talks have been held regarding the alliance while RJD and Congress leaders said they were not aware of any such proposal by the Owaisi-led party. However, AIMIM leaders in the state admit there is consensus that AIMIM should contest elections with the Mahagathbandhan when they meet in the state Assembly.

"We have put up a proposal that if you want to weaken the communal forces, then like-minded parties against them should come together. We want our participation. We have presented this proposal before Mahagathbandhan in Bihar. But nothing can be confirmed until things are finalized," AIMIM's state unit president Akhtarul Iman told IE.

The AIMIM sprang a surprise in the 2020 polls, winning five of the 20 seats it contested in the state. It, however, suffered a setback in 2022 when four of its five MLAs defected to the RJD, leaving Iman as the sole AIMIM MLA in the state.

The party, which contested the polls in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, garnered a vote share of 14.28 percent. The BSP won a lone seat out of the 78 it contested while the RLSP failed to open its account in any of the 99 seats it fielded its candidates from.

All the five seats that the AIMIM had won fall in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region in east Bihar, which encompasses four districts including Araria, Purnea, Katihar and Kishanganj. This time though, the party says it has built its organization in the last five years in the Mithilanchal, Champaran, Shahabad, Magadh and Bhagalpur regions and would like to contest more seats in these areas.

With the final call on the alliance resting with the RJD, the AIMIM is sdaid to be eying fielding candidates in 50 seats if the alliance does not go through. However, it has sent feelers to the RJD and Congress about its willingness to settle for fewer seats if it is made part of the alliance.

The AIMIM has already declared two candidates so far — Rana Ranjeet Singh, a Rajput leader, from Dhaka seat in Champaran district and Tausif Alam from Bahadurganj in Seemanchal. Iman is likely to contest from his Amour constituency.

“We are trying to forge this alliance. But if does not happen, RJD will be responsible for it. In that situation we will reach out to Muslim organisations of Bihar,” AIMIM spokesperson Adil Hasan told The Indian Express.