Jharkhand Results Show MIM-BJP Alliance: Congress

Former minister and ex-Leader Of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, said that the results of the Jharkhand Assembly elections fully exposed the MIM's "true face" and its proximity with the BJP.

Shabbir Ali said that the MIM had contested in 16 seats and could secure only 1,73,980 votes, which was just 1.2% of the total votes polled in the State.

He said that that showed that the MIM had contested the elections not to win any seat but to divide the secular votes and polarize voters so that it could help BJP's candidates.

He said that the MIM's presence had helped BJP win two seats where the MIM's vote share was higher than the winning margin. In the Mandu Assembly constituency, the MIM's presence helped BJP candidate Jai Prakash Bhai Patel win the election by just 2,068 votes, as the MIM candidate had secured 13,972 votes. Similarly, in Bishrampur, the MIM had secured just 6.14% of the votes and directly helped BJP win the seat by a margin of 4.52% in a multi-cornered contest, Shabbir Ali said.

He said that the BJP had won 6 out of the 16 seats that the MIM had fielded its candidates for.

"We are thankful to the voters of Jharkhand who not only defeated the communal BJP, but also rejected its secret ally the MIM in 10 other seats," he said.

He claimed that the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance could have won more seats if the MIM had not polarised the elections. He said that the MIM had implemented a similar game plan in Maharashtra where it directly helped the BJP - Shiv Sena win 19 seats.

The former minister said that the MIM's true face had been unmasked now, and that it must stop cheating the Muslim community.

"As a political party, the MIM is free to contest anywhere in the country. But it should have a clear and open agenda. It must stop acting like a vote katwa (divider of votes) to help the BJP," he said.

Shabbir Ali challenged the MIM to have an open alliance with the TRS in Telangana for the forthcoming municipal elections.

"The TRS and the MIM will never enter into a formal alliance. The MIM will independently field candidates from wards with a significant Muslim population. Its sole intention will be to divide votes to damage the Congress, and help the TRS and the BJP win the elections," he said.

However, Shabbir Ali said that the people had realised that the MIM was the B-Team of the BJP, and hat they would reject it in all future elections.