Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: In the run-up to Maharashtra assembly elections, a senior AIMIM leader has alleged that the party has sidelined him after his name did not feature on a list five candidates announced recently by the outfit.
Addressing his supporters on Tuesday, AIMIM’s Maharashtra working president Gaffar Quadri accused their state unit chief and ex-MP Imtiaz Jaleel of ignoring him.
“Whenever I called, Jaleel didn’t answer my calls. But people say he picks up the phone in one ring if it’s from (BJP leader) Devendra Fadnavis,” said Quadri in a video of his interaction with supporters.
During his recent visit to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had announced five candidates who he said would be fielded by their party in the Maharashtra polls, which will likely be held in November. It did not have Quadri’s name.
Quadri told his supporters that he had written to Owaisi seeking clarification about his candidature from the Aurangabad (East) assembly constituency, from where he contested in the past and lost to Maharashtra minister Atul Save, a BJP heavyweight and is said to be close to Fadnavis.
“The party has declared the candidature of Raees Lashkariya who recently joined the party. Then what is wrong with me? Now people should decide what I should do and from which party I should contest,” Quadri told his supporters.
Quadri told PTI on Wednesday that he was the only candidate backed by the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchin Bahujan Aghadi in 2019 even after the AIMIM-VBA alliance ended. “I’m talking to my people (to chart the next course of action),” he said.
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