Aiming to get a slice of the Muslim votes in next month's Karnataka elections, the All-India Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP) on Wednesday contested claims that the party is a "B-team of BJP" and is contesting the polls to take away a share of minority votes off the Congress kitty, and thereby help the saffron party. "There is no truth to assumptions that the MEP is working as B-team of the BJP. We are not aligned with anyone," party founder Nowhera Shaikh said at the release of MEP manifesto for the polls at an event in a plush Bengaluru hotel. Shaikh said the MEP will focus on issues such as development of agriculture, health and education. She also said MEP will give 35 per cent of election tickets to women, and will soon announce the full list of its candidates. In its manifesto, the MEP has promised to take low-priced food canteens started in Bengaluru by the Congress government to all districts of the state, free solar power system for all farmers, and financial support for young mothers. Much of the manifesto borrows from schemes being implemented by the Congress government of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The MEP is seen in some political quarters as a party floated to eat into the minority vote base of the Congress. "If parties such as SDPI, AIMIM and MEP (all aiming to get Muslim votes) put up candidates, and if a significant percentage of minority votes slip away from the Congress to these parties, the BJP stands to gain,'' pollster Premchand Pallety said in a recent analysis of the electoral situation. The MEP spent heavily on publicity material in the run-up to the announcement of the election dates, and its election paraphernalia has adorned many parts of Bengaluru in recent months.
