Big parties saw me as ‘untouchable’: Owaisi; his AIMIM a 'vote-cutter': Cong

After his party All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) won five seats in Bihar Assembly polls, Asaduddin Owaisi said the big parties had treated him like an “untouchable”.

The AIMIM won from Amour, Kochadhaman, Jokihat, Bahadurganj and Baisi. The party seems to have cut into the Mahagathbandhan votes in the Seemanchal region in the third phase of the polls.

The party contested 20 seats, a majority of which went to vote in the third phase on November 7.

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“In politics, you learn from your mistake. Our Bihar chief personally met with each and every leader of political parties. No one was ready to touch us. Big parties treated me like an untouchable… Our party president met every important Muslim leader as well. But nothing worked out. Cannot tell you why it didn’t happen,” Owaisi said.

“It’s a very good day for our political party. People of Bihar have voted for us and given us their blessings. I don’t know how I can thank them. We will work for the people and focus on flood-affected areas. I want to thank people for coming out and voting for us despite the pandemic. We must be lacking in something, due to which we didn’t win more seats yet. We will sit together and work on the issues and win the seats next time,” the member of Parliament from Hyderabad added.

The Congress described the AIMIM as “vote-cutter” and said all secular parties should be “alert”. Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was quoted as saying by ANI, “BJP’s tact of using (Asaduddin) Owaisi sahab’s party in the Bihar elections has succeeded to an extent. All secular parties should be alert about vote-cutter Owaisi sahib.”

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AIMIM national spokesperson Asim Waqar said those calling the party “vote-cutter” had got a “befitting reply”.

“Those calling us that have got a befitting reply and their mouths will now be shut in the future as well,” Waqar was quoted as saying by PTI.

Ahead of the polling in the third phase of the polls, the Congress had dubbed the AIMIM as the BJP’s “B-team” and had accused the party of colluding with the BJP. Congress’ Bihar unit chief Madan Mohan Jha had said AIMIM will not have any significant impact on the Assembly polls as people will not “waste” their votes.

AIMIM’s Lok Sabha MP from Aurangabad Imtiaz Jaleel said the results were a “tight slap on the faces” of those who levelled charges of dividing votes.

“I thank the people of Seemanchal region in Bihar for reposing their faith in Asaduddin Owaisi and AIMIM. Today’s result is a tight slap on the faces of those people who levelled charges that wherever we contest election, it is meant for division of votes,” Jaleel, who is also the party’s Maharashtra unit chief, said in a video message.