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As the countdown to the Maharashtra Assembly elections begins, AIMIM state chief and former Aurangabad MP Imitiaz Jaleel has claimed his party is “waiting” for an answer from the Congress on an alliance proposal it sent two months ago. The Congress, however, denied receiving any such offer. Jaleel said his party had also sent a “detailed proposal” to another Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituent, Sharad Pawar’s NCP, apart from to state Congress chief Nana Patole. “We are waiting to hear from the Congress leadership in Delhi and expect them to get back to us in the next few days,” he told The Indian Express . Denying that the party had received any proposal from the AIMIM, Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said no discussion on the issue has come up even in internal discussions. Jaleel’s claims follow his declaration last month that his party would chart its own course if the MVA did not respond to its proposal by September 9. “If the alliance does not work out, we will capitalise on the strong presence we have in the Marathwada region,” he said. The AIMIM leader was also firm that the party would be asking for the five Assembly seats of Malegaon Central, Dhule, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Solapur and Versova, for which it has even shortlisted candidates. “We will not insist on a lot of seats, but if the alliance works out, we will not give away these five seats. We are hopeful that the Congress will join us in defeating the BJP and its allies,” he said. While the AIMIM has won only a couple of seats since its foray into Maharashtra in 2014, its presence has dented the Congress’s prospects in several others. In 2019, for example, while the AIMIM contested 44 seats and won only Malegaon Central and Dhule City, it is believed to have cut into the Congress-NCP’s votes in 12 constituencies. Among these seats, Chandivali and Nagpur Central were won by the united Shiv Sena and BJP alliance by narrow margins of 409 and 4,008 votes respectively, even as AIMIM candidates polled 1,167 and 8,565 votes. In 2014 too, the AIMIM won two – Aurangabad Central and Byculla – of the 24 seats it contested, but is believed to have given the Congress and undivided NCP a run for their money in at least nine other seats. “We gave a tough fight to all parties including the Congress in nine seats,” an AIMIM source said. However, even AIMIM leaders admit the bad blood between the two parties, especially since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. While the Asaduddin Owaisi -led outfit had extended outside support to successive Congress governments in undivided Andhra Pradesh, after Telangana was carved out, it moved its sympathies to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi). “From 2014 to 2024, the AIMIM developed an antagonistic relationship with the Congress in Telangana, and the distrust grew after it forayed into other states,” a Congress insider from Telangana said. The Congress keeps accusing the AIMIM of being a B-team of the BJP, and helping the latter by polarising voters. Owaisi has countered by saying the AIMIM is only following its political ambitions and wanted to have “mass appeal” rather than being just a “Muslim party”. None
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