No one will call BRS vote cutters’ in Maharashtra: AIMIM MP Jaleel

Aurangabad: Political parties are free to go to any part of the country but AIMIM is called “voter cutter” wherever it goes, said party MP Imtiaz Jaleel, referring to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s plan to enter Maharashtra.

No one will call BRS vote cutters’ in Maharashtra, said Jaleel, the Lok Sabha MP from Aurangabad.

BRS, earlier known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi, is the second political party after the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) that will make a foray into the western state.

BRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao is expected to address a “joiners’ meeting” in Nanded, some 280 kilometres from Mumbai, on Sunday.

Jaleel was speaking to PTI over the event of BRS, which is trying to expand its base beyond Telangana.

BRS will contest all elections in Maharashtra henceforth by “showcasing” the progress Telangana has made under Rao, also known as KCR, a minister of the southern state said on Friday.

“In India, a political party has the right to go to any part of the country. BRS is not only coming here (Maharashtra) but also going to states like Odisha and Karnataka. We are mocked as vote cutters’ wherever we go, but it won’t be the case with BRS,” Jaleel said.

He said AIMIM will hold a national convention of party functionaries in Mumbai on February 25 and 26 to plan its way ahead. “I had a long discussion with party president Asaduddin Owaisi recently,” he added.

Jaleel said, “AIMIM will contest more parliamentary and assembly seats compared to past elections in Maharashtra. “They will be in other areas of the state apart from Marathwada,” he said.

The party had won two seats in Maharashtra in 2019 assembly elections.

He said the Hyderabad-headquartered AIMIM is also in search of an alliance partner keeping an eye on the Dalit votes in the state.

“We are talking to 2-3 parties with whom we can go ahead in elections, but surely not with Anandraj Ambedkar (Republican Sena) today. Not every party is happy with what is going on in the state,” he said.