Jalgaon: In yet another instant indicating that Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is no different from other parties, Jalgaon Mayor and Deputy Mayor election last week saw its members voting for Shiv Sena.
Asaduddin Owaisi calls Shiv Sena and the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) communal parties. Rhetoric against the two parties is reserved for them whenever Asaduddin Owaisi , his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, and other AIMIM leaders speak and address election rallies.
However, when it comes to political compromises, the AIMIM does not shy away from siding with them. This is what exactly was seen in Jalgaon last Thursday and earlier at other places in Maharashtra and the country.
The elections for Jalgaon Mayor and Deputy Mayor were held on March 18, 2021. Shiv Sena backed by the 31 BJP members who defected to the Shiv Sena fielded Jayshree Mahajan and Kulbhushan Patil for the two posts. On the opposite side were BJP candidates.
Shiv Sena however had the number on its side and hence easily won the two key posts of Jalgaon Municipal Corporation bagging 45 votes as against the BJP candidates who got 30 votes.
Interestingly, Shiv Sena did not even need the support of the 03 AIMIM members - Riyaz Bagban, Syyeda Yusuf Shaikh and Raju Deshmukh. Yet they decided to vote for the former, and in politics such support is never without a deal.
The AIMIM, after outrage in the city and in a move to cover up the incident that exposed its hypocrisy, suspended the 03 members, along with AIMIM Jalgaon district head Ziya Bagban.
The party has also asked them to “reply within a week why action should not be taken against them” for defying the party line.
This is not the first time when the AIMIM has sided with the Shiv Sena. Back in 2017, the AIMIM members had voted for the Congress and Shiv Sena candidates running for the Malegaon Municipal Corporation Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts.
The party had contested the elections against the two parties promising an alternate to them and to bring the change in the city which the Congress and other parties have failed in achieving.
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