AIMIM has named 3 candidates for Rajasthan polls, more to be announced: Owaisi

Jaipur: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said his party has so far fielded three candidates in the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly polls and more names will be announced in consultation with its state leadership. The Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad said the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has entered the poll fray in Rajasthan for the first time.

It has fielded candidates from the Hawa Mahal constituency in Jaipur, Fatehpur in Sikar and Kaman in Bharatpur for the November 25 polls. "The party has fielded three candidates in the upcoming Assembly election and more names will be announced in consultation with the state leadership. The party is contesting the Rajasthan Assembly polls for the first time and we will try our best to ensure that our candidates perform well," Owaisi told a press conference here. He said public meetings of the AIMIM candidates are scheduled in Fatehpur on Saturday and in Jaipur on Sunday.

On his party's strategy in the upcoming polls, Owaisi said they will go to people highlighting that the Congress has failed to provide governance to them and remained busy in infighting as well as the BJP's communalism and pro-majority behaviour in the country. Asked about not being made a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) that has been formed by opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he said it does not lower the significance of the AIMIM and they will continue to do their work.

"This (INDIA) is an elite club of the chieftains of secularism. Big people sit in this club. People like us are not needed in it and we are also not interested to be a part of it. We will do our work," Owaisi said. On being reminded that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has asserted that the Congress is going to retain power in Rajasthan, he said the grand old party and its leaders say a lot of things. "In the last Lok Sabha election, he (Gehlot) had said they will win all the seats but his son lost the contest. They say a lot of things," Owaisi said.