Would’ve Helped if AIMIM, VBA Contested Together: MP Imtiaz Jaleel

With victories in two seats, the AIMIM could not increase its tally in Maharashtra from 2014. VBA won zero seats.

With victories in two Assembly constituencies, the AIMIM could not increase its tally in Maharashtra. The VBA won zero seats.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

With victories in two Assembly constituencies, the AIMIM could not increase its tally in Maharashtra – maintaining the same number they had won in the 2014 Assembly polls. However, the party had its first successful foray into Bihar, winning the Assembly bypoll in Kishanganj.

Speaking to The Quint, AIMIM Maharashtra chief and Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel expressed disappointment with the results, and also said that it would have been better for both parties had the alliance with Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA stayed intact.

The following are excerpts from the conversation.

The Quint: How do you view the MIM’s performance in Maharashtra considering that the party has not been able to gain in terms of seats compared to the 2014 Assembly polls? This, despite you becoming the party’s first Lok Sabha MP in the state this year.

AIMIM Maharashtra chief Imtiaz Jaleel.(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)

Imtiaz Jaleel: Definitely, we are not very excited with the results. We were expecting some more seats. We contested 44 seats in Maharashtra, and we were hoping to win at least 5 to 7 seats, but we had to settle for 2 seats (same as 2014 Assembly polls).

Still, we tried our best and worked hard to get this result. What is most appealing to us is that we got a good number of votes, and in some of the seats, it was a slender margin.

The Quint: Do you regret breaking off the alliance with Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA? Do you think your party could have done better in terms of number of seats had you continued to be in alliance with the VBA?

Imtiaz Jaleel: Definitely, both MIM and VBA would have benefited had this alliance been there. Because we had observed that in the Lok Sabha elections, we emerged as a formidable force against the BJP-Sena an well as the Cong-NCP. People thought that we are an alternative they could rely on.

But, for some reason, when Prakash Ambedkar took a decision that he would give only 8 seats to MIM out of the 288 seats, it did not work well and finally, one day, my party chief Asaduddin Owaisi called me and said that it’s high time we should take a call on this. So, I was told to issue a letter that we could fight alone.

Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA did not win a single seat in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.(Photo: IANS)

But yes, I agree that if both parties had been together, then definitely it would have worked wonders and people of Maharashtra – especially Bahujans and Muslims – wanted this alliance to happen. But for some reason, it did not work out.

The Quint: With AIMIM making its first successful foray into Bihar, will the party now look at the Bihar Assembly polls in 2020 more keenly, maybe contest several more seats than you did in 2015?

Imtiaz Jaleel: In 2015, we contested only 6 seats in Bihar and still, we were accused of having gone to Bihar to split the votes of the Congress so that it benefits the BJP. But with this victory, it is a big morale booster for us and we will definitely be spreading our wings. We are now not limited to one state of Telangana, we have emerged stronger in Maharashtra, and we have now forayed into Bihar also. The next target would definitely be Bihar, and the decision will be taken by my party chief as to how many seats we will contest and what the plan ahead will be.

The Quint: How do you react to the Opposition performing considerably better in Maharashtra than was widely expected by political observers and commentators, and even by politicians across parties?

Imtiaz Jaleel: If only you had heard the statements of the BJP and Sena leaders even as the counting started, they were very confident that they would be touching 220. Some BJP leaders even said they would go up to 250 seats, so settling down for around 160 is not something they will be proud of.

The fact that the Opposition did very well despite not being very formidable just indicates that the people of Maharashtra want strong Opposition parties, which is currently not there. Most of the top leaders of Congress and NCP switched their loyalties and joined the Sena or BJP.

Despite people not wanting the ruling alliance (back), the Opposition parties were not strong enough to take the BJP and Sena head on. We feel that if the VBA and MIM had been together, the result would have been totally different.