AIMIM will continue to work for Seemanchal’s development: Owaisi
Hyderabad: The AIMIM, which won five seats in the Bihar Assembly elections, will continue to fight for justice to the state’s Seemanchal and work for its development, party President Asaduddin Owaisi said on Friday.
The Hyderabad MP said his party welcomes the mandate given by the people of Bihar. “We welcome the public mandate. We congratulate Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and express our best wishes,” he said.
Addressing a press conference, Owaisi said his party would cooperate with the government for the development of Seemanchal.
“Our focus will be on bringing progress to Seemanchal, reducing child mortality, and building schools, hospitals, bridges, and industries for women and children. We will extend our full cooperation in this effort,” he said.
Owaisi said, despite the defeat in the first election and despite the split engineered by the rivals by luring four MLAs in 2022, the AIMIM did not leave Seemanchal and declared that it would continue its fight.
Thanking the voters of Seemanchal for electing five MLAs of his party, Owaisi said this result will send a message to minorities across the country.
“I am again appealing to Muslim society not to be mere voters for others but to be citizens to get your rights as citizens. If you vote, you will be forgotten after the election, and nobody will come if some calamity befalls you,” he said.
He hoped that secular-minded forces would also do the introspection and do course correction instead of only blaming Muslims.
“You can’t say a particular caste did not vote for you, but you blame Muslims because you feel they are your captive voters and they are bonded labourers,” he said in reply to a question.
The AIMIM chief said he had been saying that the RJD would not be able to stop the BJP.
“People of Bihar were misled on the M-Y combination. I said this earlier and during elections, and saying it again today. You will be just reduced to vote givers. Become vote getters. There will be two benefits. Your leadership will develop, and you will be able to stop communal and fascist forces,” he said.
Owaisi said his apprehensions about the Bihar elections’ outcome have come true. Without naming the Mahagathbandhan, he said they need to introspect on why they failed to stop the BJP.
Urging them to do the course correction, he said merely cursing AIMIM will not help.
He rubbished the statement of Samajawadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, blaming SIR for the defeat in Bihar.
“You need to see your weaknesses. First of all, you have to be humble. If you think we are raja and voters are our praja, those days have gone,” he said.
The AIMIM chief hailed the victory of Congress candidate Naveen Yadav in the Jubilee Hills by-election. He said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy called him and thanked him for his party’s support.
Terming this as a big victory after the 2023 elections, Owaisi hoped that CM Revanth Reddy would do more to improve infrastructure and civic amenities in Jubilee Hills and the rest of Hyderabad and Telangana.
He defended the stand taken by the party and pointed out that the vote share of the BRS was falling.