Bihar: AIMIM demands entry into INDIA Bloc; beats drums outside Lalu Prasad Yadav’s residence

Patna: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has launched a dramatic bid to push for an alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ahead of the Bihar assembly elections on Thursday.

Led by state president Akhtarul Iman, AIMIM leaders reached Lalu Prasad Yadav’s residence at 10 Circular Road, Patna, carrying posters and beating drums to demand that the RJD open its doors for them.

Security personnel stopped the leaders outside the residence, but their message was loud and clear.

AIMIM wants to join the INDIA bloc to prevent a split in minority and secular votes.

One of the posters read: “A positive initiative of AIMIM to stop the scattering of secular votes. Lalu-Tejashwi, open your ears, drums are playing at your door. Open your door for alliance, otherwise your MY equation will be exposed.”

Akhtarul Iman said AIMIM has repeatedly reached out to RJD and the INDIA bloc constituents but received no response.

“We even sent a message through RJD MLAs, but the advice we got was that AIMIM should not contest this time. Despite this, we are ready for an alliance, even with the party that broke away four of our MLAs,” he remarked, referring to RJD absorbing four AIMIM MLAs who won the 2020 elections.

In the last assembly polls, AIMIM had won five seats in Seemanchal, including Iman from Amaur, but four of the MLAs later joined RJD.

The AIMIM state president put forward three key demands, including six assembly seats for AIMIM, the creation of a Seemanchal Development Authority with a special package, and reservation for Dalits and minorities according to population.

Drawing parallels with the 2005 February assembly election, Iman recalled how Ram Vilas Paswan offered to support Lalu Yadav if a minority candidate was made Chief Minister, but Lalu had refused.

“Today, the situation is the same. He accepts BJP but not AIMIM in the INDIA Bloc,” Iman alleged.

Taking a jibe at Tejashwi Yadav, he said: “The Leader of Opposition keeps saying he doesn’t know of any letter from AIMIM. Big people have thick skin. That is why we have come with drums to tell him we want to join the alliance so that secular votes do not scatter. Otherwise, communal forces will benefit, and people will hold us responsible.”

With minority votes seen as decisive in the Seemanchal region, AIMIM’s dramatic show of strength is a reminder of its 2020 performance, when it cut into RJD’s tally and complicated Tejashwi Yadav’s bid for power.

IANS