VBA-MIM alliance unlikely

Aurangabad, Dec 11:

“In the forthcoming elections, the chances of alliance between Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and All Indian Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslim (AIMIM) are dim. Instead of making an alliance, we will focus on contesting elections on more seats and winning them," said Farooq Ahmed, VBA city observer.

Talking to media persons on Saturday, Ahmed said the issue of Muslim reservation was taken up by the MIM and took out a morcha today but VBA had taken up the point six months ago and staged protests.

“MIM is far behind VBA. At the time of the Assembly elections, MIM was demanding 100 seats. After the alliance broke down with us, the party should have contested 100 seats on its own. The fact cannot be denied that it contested only 20-22 seats,” he said.

When he was asked a question regarding Sambhajinagar, the VBA city observer replied that

adv Balasaheb Ambedkar clarified the role from time to time in the context of Sambhajinagar.

“It would be more appropriate to rename the city of Pune as Sambhajinagar. Because Sambhaji Maharaj was tortured and died in Pune district. His ‘Samadhi’ is also there. Therefore, we oppose naming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar,” he said.

He said that those who used the issue of Sambhajinagar and won the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) elections could not supply water to this city on a daily basis nor provide good roads and civic amenities.

He also questioned why those who were in power in the AMC could not name the city Sambhajinagar

He informed that a meeting of Muslim intellectuals will be organised at Maulana Azad Research Center on December 26 on the issue of reservation of Muslim community and the role of VBA.

He said that the riots in three cities of the State, including Amravati, are part of a conspiracy over the Tripura issue. Farooq Ahmed blamed both the government and the BJP for the riots.

Jalees Ahmed, the convener of Shaheenbaugh in the city joined JVB today. VBA activists including Siddharth Mokle were present at the briefing.