AIMIM to go it alone in Maharashtra Assembly polls

Severing its links with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Friday announced that it would go it alone in the State Assembly polls to be held next month.

In a statement issued here, AIMIM’s Maharashtra president Imtiaz Jaleel said that the VBA had — in the seat sharing arrangement for the State Assembly polls — allotted mere eight seats out of the total 288 seats. “This is simply unacceptable and unjustified as the list does not include the sitting seat AIMIM — Aurangabad Central,” Jaleel said.

“After prolonged



discussions with Prakash Ambedkarji lasting for two months, we could not reach a respectable figure in the seat distribution between my party and VBA,” Jaleel said.    

Announcing that his party would contest the polls on its own strength, Jaleel — who is the lone AIMIM MP from Maharashtra — said that his party would soon hold interviews for the prospective candidates in Aurangabad.

The VBA is a merged entity of political outfits and groups representing Dalits, Tribals, Dhangars, Kolis, Agris, Banjaras, Malis, Kaikadis and other communities. The AIMIM was part of the VBA during the Lok Sabha polls.