Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has handed tickets to four Hindu candidates out of 27 fielded for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls so far. Among the four candidates, one of them will be contesting from Muzaffarnagar's communally-sensitive Budhana assembly segment, The Times of India reports.
State president of AIMIM Shaukat Ali said, "In the coming days we will give more tickets to our Hindu brothers. We do not give tickets on basis of religion. We are considered communal, but the fact is, it is the BJP that doesn't offer tickets to Muslims."
Giving further details about candidates, Ali said that Pandit Manmohan Jha will contest from Sahibabad constituency in Ghaziabad, Bheem Singh Balyan from Budhana seat, Vinod Jatav from Hastinapur seat in Meerut and Vikas Srivastava from Ramnagar in Barabanki. District president of AIMIM, Intezaar Ansari said, “It is not true that we are a Muslim-only party. We have several Hindu workers in AIMIM.”
Meanwhile, when asked why BJP doesn’t give Muslims a chance to contest on their party tickets, Muzaffarnagar MP of the BJP, Sanjeev Balyan, said,
“It is up to AIMIM or others who they want to give a ticket but BJP focuses on the candidate’s winnability. Muslims will be given tickets if the party thinks they can pull off a victory.”
Meanwhile, former councillor Faisal Saifi said, “It is good that AIMIM is distributing tickets to non-Muslims as well. This will help the party promote a secular image and help them reap political benefits in future.” Notably, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has come up with a new front ‘Bhagidari
Parivartan Morcha’ consisting of parties with a support base among Muslims, OBCs and Dalits for the state elections.
