All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) national spokesperson Waris Pathan lashed out at Opposition parties for not inviting AIMIM saying that they were “political untouchables” for the 26 parties who formed a coalition and named it ‘INDIA’.
“They did not call us, we are political untouchables for them,” Pathan said.
“You want the votes of the Muslim community but you don’t want to represent them politically and then you speak of secularism,” Pathan said, over not receiving an invitation.
“There are leaders who were once with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including Nitish Kumar, Uddhav Thackeray and Mehbooba Mufti. We saw Arvind Kejriwal abusing Congress during the Gujarat Assembly elections, but even he is sitting in Bengaluru. Even we (AIMIM) are putting efforts to defeat BJP in 2024, but they (Opposition parties) are ignoring Asaduddin Owaisi and our party,” he said.
Twenty-six Opposition parties met in Bengaluru in July, agreeing to come under one front with the name – Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Earlier, we were UPA and now all the 26 parties have given a name to the opposition and that is “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)”. Everybody has agreed upon this, and the resolution for the name was passed unanimously.”
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi chief Thol Thirumavalavan said that the name was proposed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.