Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Owaisi party plans expansion in Maharashtra

MAMTA SEN Mumbai | 6th Oct 2012

he All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen has begun its expansion plans in Maharashtra from ex-Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's home constituency Nanded. The AIMIM's victory in the by-elections two years ago — in Ward 40 (which they won) and Ward 79 (their candidate came in second place) has enthused the party to such an extent that 25 candidates will contest in the upcoming Nanded Corporation elections.
Party President and MP Asaduddin Owaisi has been taking a keen interest in Nanded and is a regular visitor addressing mammoth rallies of 20,000 Muslims every week. Sayyad Moin, district president of AIMIM, Nanded said that they were hopeful of winning at least 15-20 seats in the upcoming elections and confirmed that the party has long term plans of expanding across Maharashtra.
"Nanded had always been closer to Hyderabad even in the past in fact it is also located a mere 250 kilometres away. A large population of Muslims from here would like to see a change and since the AIMIM has always worked for the betterment of Muslims we would like to win Nanded on that agenda," he states adding that they have been getting invitations from places like Mumbra and Bhiwandi as well to put up candidates from their party in all forthcoming polls.
"We have already established over 25 offices across Nanded and are looking at increasing our popularity in other districts of Maharashtra too," he claims adding that Aurangabad is next.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has also been looking at the AIMIM with keen interest. "We are observing the situation. Any movement that is supposed to damage the Congress is eventually good for us. In Andhra Pradesh, Owaisi's party dominates only a certain section of Muslims. It would be interesting to see how they establish themselves here," points out BJP Spokesperson Madhav Bhandari.
Ravindra Raju, Organising Secretary, BJP in Hyderabad informs that Owaisi has been seriously looking to establish his party in Maharashtra and has been addressing meetings not only in Nanded but also in Pune, Solapur and Aurangabad. "Their presence in the state will possibly damage the Congress in the long run," he adds.
Mohammad Maqsud Inamdar a political worker from Nanded observes that the AIMIM will successfully win six seats in Nanded and then later expand itself to Aurangabad, Osmanabad, Mumbra, Bhiwandi and Mumbai.