Mumbai: Two days after Jamat-e-Islami Hind appealed Muslims to support Arvind Kejriwal, Mumbai Muslim leaders on Wednesday said that they were under tremendous pressure from the community to endorse the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
"We are under tremendous pressure. Having lost faith in the Congress and other political parties, the Muslims are now urging us to endorse and join hands with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)", a top leader associated with Mumbai's influential Muslim outfit said on the condition of anonymity while talking to ummid.com.
He said they are in touch with the AAP leaders and a decision in this regard is expected any moment.
"We had a useful meeting with Manish Sisodia before Delhi elections and with AAP leaders of Maharashtra last week after the AAP formed its government in Delhi. A decision can be taken any moment. But, before that we want to know AAP stand on some critical issues", he added.
In reply to a question he said the Muslim leaders of Maharashtra are considering issue-based support to the AAP, and would demand inclusion of crucial issues in its manifesto.
Having conquered Delhi, the AAP has now set its eyes on Maharashtra with the party all set to contest on all 288 assembly seats in the elections later this year. The party is buoyed by the enthusiasm shown by over 300,000 people who have joined in the last three weeks.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has already endorsed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party and appealed the Muslims to support the newly-born party.
The JIH also asked the community to shun the Congress, a move likely to worry the grand old party that is counting on minorities to stem anti-incumbency.
This is the first time since the Jamaat's participation in elections in 2002 that it has come out so strongly against the Congress.
"Muslims now strongly feel they should reconsider their position regarding Congress," Hindustan Times quoted Jamaat's secretary general Maulana Nusrat Ali as saying.
"The formation of Aam Aadmi Party's government in Delhi is generally being welcomed in the country. We consider these new trends as notable and reassuring", he added.
The Jamaat, like many Muslim organisations, was initially cagey in its support for the anti-corruption agitation led by Anna Hazare and Kejriwal, preferring to adopt a wait-and-watch policy.
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