Jharkhand results have fully exposed MIM's 'Vote Katwa' reality: Shabbir

Hyderabad: Former minister and ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has stated that the results of Jharkhand Assembly elections have fully exposed the MIM's true face and its proximity with the BJP.

Shabbir Ali, in a media statement on Tuesday, said that the MIM had contested on 16 seats and could secure only 173,980 which is just 1.2% of total polled votes in the States. He said that the MIM contested the elections not to win any seat, but divide the secular votes and polarise voters so that it could help BJP candidates. He said that the MIM's presence helped BJP win two seats where its vote share was higher than the winning margin. Citing instances, he said in Mandu Assembly constituency, MIM's presence helped BJP candidate Jai Prakash Bhai Patel win the election by just 2,068 votes against as the MIM candidate secured 13,972 votes. Similarly, in Bishrampur seat, MIM secured just 6.14% votes and directly helped BJP win the seat by a margin of 4.52% in a multi-cornered contest.

The Congress leader said MIM's presence helped the BJP in polarising the elections in remaining 14 seats. He said BJP has won on 6 out of 16 seats where MIM fielded its candidates. "We are thankful to voters of Jharkhand who not only defeated the communal BJP but also rejected its secret ally MIM in 10 other seats," he said.

Shabbir Ali said that the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance could have won the number of seats if MIM would not have polarised the elections. He reminded that the MIM had implemented a similar game plan in Maharashtra where it directly helped BJP-Shiv Sena win 19 seats. Fortunately, he said Shiv Sena has severed its ties with communal BJP and formed a secular government in alliance with Congress and NCP.

The former minister said that the MIM's true face has been unmasked and it must stop cheating the Muslim community. "As a political party, MIM was free to contest from anywhere in the country. But MIM 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 MIM to have an open alliance with TRS in Telangana for the forthcoming municipal elections. "TRS and MIM will never enter into a formal alliance. MIM will independently field candidates from wards with significant Muslim population. Its sole intention will be to divide votes to damage the Congress party and help TRS and BJP win elections," he said.

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