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Siddiqui ditches Asaduddin Owaisi, joins Cong-Left alliance in West Bengal

Asaduddin Owaisi on the other hand is maintaining a guarded silence ever since Abbas Siddiqui announced the formation of his party

Wednesday February 17, 2021 11:23 AM, ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

Owaisi with Siddiqui

Kolkata: The West Bengal plan of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi received a massive setback as Abbas Siddiqui, the influential Muslim cleric of Furfura Sharif, Tuesday formally joined the Congress-Left alliance for the 2021 state polls.

During his first visit to West Bengal on January 03 ahead of the 2021 assembly elections in the state, Asaduddin Owaisi had met Abbas Siddiqui and held a “lengthy and detailed discussions” on the state’s political scenario and upcoming assembly polls with him.

Owaisi visited West Bengal soon after winning 05 seats in the 2020 Bihar Assembly Polls, and made his intention to contest the state polls. The meeting between Owaisi and Siddiqui stirred speculations that the two will form alliance to contest the state polls.

Siddiqui however soon started hobnobbing with the leaders of Congress and Left parties, and explored the possibility of alliance with them.

Sources close to Siddiqui said the Congress asked him to keep distance from Owaisi and form his own party if he wanted to join the “secular” alliance.

Owaisi meanwhile faced strong resistance from Muslim community leaders and cleric who asked him not to contest elections in West Bengal. Accusing Owaisi him of playing communal politics, the Muslim clerics also said his decision to contest the state election will only benefit the BJP – which is trying hard to wrest power from the secular parties.

Amid all this Abbas Siddiqui in a sudden decision announced the formation of his own party namely “Indian Secular Front (ISF).

ISF formation by Siddiqui cleared all hurdles for him to join the Congress and Left alliance.
Finally, the Congress on Tuesday announced that not only Siddiqui’s ISF, but all regional parties except AIMIM, will contest the 2021 West Bengal elections together.

"In the upcoming 2021 assembly elections, we will fight as an alliance of the Left Front, Congress and the Indian Secular Front," West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Left Front Chairman Biman Bose said while addressing a joint press conference in Kolkata Tuesday.

“Not just the ISF, the RJD and several other smaller secular parties will also be accommodated in the alliance”, they said.

"The election will not be a two-cornered contest as projected by the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. It would be a three-cornered contest as the Left and the Congress are very much in the fight," they said.

“The Left Front and the Congress have already finalised their seat-sharing deal”, they said.

Asaduddin Owaisi on the other hand is maintaining a guarded silence ever since Abbas Siddiqui announced the formation of his party and decided to keep a distance from the Hyderabad MP as “advised” by the Congress.

The BJP meanwhile is using every trick in its hand to wrest power in West Bengal and unseat Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Buoyed by a number of sitting MLAs and leaders of the Trinamool Congress joining the party, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is visiting West Bengal for the second time in a month to boost the party workers and draw poll strategy.

 

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