AIMIM will mull over proposal to contest Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai, says Owaisi

Pic: PTI File

The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will think over a proposal given by its Member of Parliament Imtiaz Jaleel to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai, party president Asaduddin Owaisi said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in central Maharashtra, Owaisi remarked that political parties which claim to be secular are in turmoil in the state and criticised leaders from the opposition camp who recently joined the BJP or its alliance partners.

He said, "A proposal from Imtiaz Jaleel for contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai (which has 6 parliamentary seats) has been received by the party. The party will think over it and decide."

Jaleel is the Hyderabad-based AIMIM's Member of Parliament from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,

Owaisi condemned the action of government agencies in Mira Road near Mumbai, where "illegal" shops were demolished following violence amid Ayodhya Ram Temple 'pran pratishtha' celebrations last month.

"The government demolished shops and houses of people in Mira Road which was a one-sided action. I condemn the action which affected people and destroyed their businesses," said the Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad.

"No one (then) went to meet those people. Now, selfish people who say they are secular will go there (in Mira Road) for votes (in run-up to polls)," the AIMIM leader said.

Owaisi said the "real face" of political outfits like the Congress and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) came to the fore when they made Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray the chief minister of Maharashtra in November 2019.

"In Maharashtra, the parties which claim to be secular are in a state of chaos. Ashok Chavan (a former Congress CM) has joined the BJP and will go to the Rajya Sabha. Another leader (Baba Siddique) has joined the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP.

"This leader (Siddique) was a member of a committee that saw selection of candidates in Hyderabad (during Telangana assembly polls late last year)," he maintained.

Meanwhile, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Waris Pathan was detained and later released by the Mumbai police on Monday when he tried to visit Mira Road in neighbouring Thane district, where communal violence occurred last month ahead of the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, an official said.

The AIMIM leader was stopped at the Dahisar Check Naka when he was on his way to Mira Road, the official from Dahisar police said.

"Pathan was brought to Dahisar police station and released after some time. The police escorted him to his residence in south Mumbai," he said. (With inputs from PTI)