AIMIM not B team of NDA, I survived attack in BJP-ruled UP: Owaisi

Katihar, Sep 27 (PTI) AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday sought to dismiss the charge that his party was the "B team" of the NDA in Bihar, citing a gun attack he survived in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh a few years ago.

He asserted that his party will go it alone in the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar, if it finds no alliance partner.

The Hyderabad MP wound up a four-day-long "Seemanchal Nyay Yatra" with a series of public meetings in Katihar district.

"The so-called champions of secularism allege that we are the BJP's B team here. They should remember that in the 2022 UP assembly polls, six bullets were fired at my car," Owaisi recalled indignantly.

Charging RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav with having "bought" all but one of the five MLAs of AIMIM in Bihar, Owaisi said he, nonetheless, attempted a tie-up "with a heavy heart".

"Our state president Akhtarul Iman, whom Tejashwi could not wean away, telephoned me to say that members of our community were upset that Owaisi was not interested in an alliance with the RJD-helmed Mahagathbandhan. I said do as they please," said the firebrand leader.

"In our culture, when the father is alive, we approach him before talking to the son. So Iman wrote a letter to Lalu ji (RJD president) to inform him that the AIMIM was ready for a tie up. Later, a letter was sent to Tejashwi, too. Now, if they are not responding, what can we do?" said Owaisi.

He claimed that while making the offer for a tie-up, Iman had made it clear that AIMIM wanted no share in the ministry if the Mahagathbandhan formed the next government.

"Our only conditions were six seats, since we had already won five, and a written assurance that a Seemanchal Development Council would be set up. But they were not interested," Owaisi said.

The Seemanchal region has a sizeable Muslim population.

The AIMIM chief, however, vowed to contest the upcoming polls even if no party agreed to have an alliance with it.

"A tiger is never known to move about in packs," he remarked.

The Hyderabad MP also bristled at RJD leaders calling him an "outsider" in Bihar.

"I have not come from some other planet. RJD leaders should ask their leader why he sent a Haryanvi to the Rajya Sabha", said Owaisi, in an obvious reference to Sanjay Yadav, a key aide of Tejashwi. PTI NAC NN