You had a very successful rally in Kishanganj. What are your plans for Bihar? We have yet not decided whether we will field candidates in Bihar elections. We are considering all aspects. I can’t tell you what my party’s strategy will be, but once a decision has been taken we will announce it. What were the circumstances that made you consider fielding candidates in Bihar? That is a loaded question. We will let you know the decision once it is final. There are many factors to consider, organisation, of course, is one of them. There are other things that we need to look into as well. Watch Video: Mulayam Dumps Nitish, Walks Away From The Grand Alliance: What This Means [App users click here to see video] There are insinuations that your contesting in Bihar will benefit BJP. What is your response? I do not understand why this question is being posed to me. I did not contest in Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand or Jammu & Kashmir. I did not contest the municipal elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Why did the so-called secular forces lose in these states then? They cannot blame me for their shortcomings, incompetence, lack of credibility. It is a completely wrong assumption that AIMIM fighting elections helps the BJP. Samajwadi Party has announced that it will not be a part of the grand alliance. What are your views? It is embarrassing for the grand alliance. Shivpal Yadav shared the stage with Sonia Gandhi and Lalu Prasad in Patna. And today this U-turn by Mulayam Singh Yadav (was announced). There is a need for introspection. In fact, if they are making baseless allegations against me of surreptitiously helping the BJP, I can also make the same allegation against them. I can also say that the so-called secular forces have a hidden alliance with the BJP. You have been accused of polarising the electorate, and there is an assumption that this polarisation then helps the BJP. Give me one instance when I have polarised (the electorate). Of the 80 seats, not a single Muslim candidate got elected in Uttar Pradesh. There is 17% Muslim population in Bihar and there are only 19 MLAs. In Maharashtra, we fought in 24 of 288 seats, of which six were non-Muslim candidates. There are 1 crore Muslim voters, and there was 60% polling. AIMIM won two seats, in both of these seats the second position went to the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. What happened to the secular parties there? In all the 24 seats, we won a total of 5,24,000 votes. Why couldn’t they get the other 55 lakh votes? The truth is that the upper caste Marathas all voted for the BJP. They (the ‘secular parties’) do not have the guts to talk about it and are instead blaming me. You say you are still undecided about Bihar, do you plan to contest any of the other upcoming Assembly polls? We will certainly contest Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Two states where I do not find any reason to contest are Assam, where AIUDF is doing a fine job, and Kerala, where there is Muslim League doing good work. However if (AIUDF chief) Badruddin Ajmal asks me to campaign for his party, I will certainly do so. He has his own base and I will certainly supplement his efforts if he so desires. In West Bengal there are increasing demands from my own party organisation to fight. The organisation is getting stronger. On my way back from Kishenganj, I stopped over in Kolkata and I was really impressed by the response.
