[Asaduddin Owaisi and Imtiyaz Jaleel (center) in a file photo. Also seen is Akbaruddin Owaisi - AIMIM floor leader in Telangana assembly (now dissolved).]
Mumbai: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) will forge an alliance for the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2019, party leaders announced on Saturday.
Talking to news agency PTI, AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that preliminary talks held between the two parties have yielded positive results.
"(BBM Chief) Prakash Ambedkar ji will be holding a public rally in Aurangabad on 2 October in which I too will be present. The formal structure of the alliance will be announced later," Owaisi said.
Imtiyaz Jaleel, AIMIM MLA from Aurangabad, said the idea behind the alliance was that Dalits, Muslims and OBCs have been ignored for 70 years, have no proper representation in politics and were being treated as vote-banks.
"It is a shame on all so-called secular parties that there is no representation from the Muslim community in Parliament from Maharashtra. Everybody wants their votes but does not want to give them representation. Similar is the case for Dalits," he said.
He added that once both parties come together, they would be a force to reckon with. Jaleel, who called on Ambedkar at the latter's home in Pune to hold preliminary talks, added that Owaisi and Ambedkar will meet before the public rally on 2 October and will decide on the structure of the alliance, according to PTI.
Haribhau Bhale, former MLA and BBM leader, said Dalits, Muslims and OBCs are upset with mainstream parties.
"There is a growing pressure to form an alternative. Thus, all groups that have been ignored will come together. What shape the alliance will take will be decided by party leaders," Bhale said.
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM is based in Hyderabad and has 07 MLAs in Telangana assembly. However, Owaisi is trying to expand its party outside the Telangana state. In 2014, AIMIM won 02 seats in Maharashtra state elections and also won some seats in local elections.
The AIMIM, considered a Muslim party, also surprised its critics by fielding non-Muslim candidates. Some of them have also won the elections.
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