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All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi would address back-to-back rallies in Rajasthan’s Kaman and Tonk over the weekend, the party said Wednesday. Tonk is the Assembly constituency of Congress leader Sachin Pilot.
AIMIM’s state convener Jameel Khan told The Indian Express, “Tonk hasn’t had a permanent leader who can do well for the constituency. In the last election, Pilot was parachuted and it continues to remain backward with little development.”
As per the programme, Owaisi will offer Zuhr prayers and then undertake a jan sampark (public contact programme) from Jama Masjid to Gandhi playground in Tonk, where he will address a rally on Sunday (February 19). On Saturday (February 18), the Hyderabad MP will inaugurate a party office in Tapukara, Alwar, which will be followed by Zuhr prayers, a jan sampark, and then a public rally in Kaman (Bharatpur).
Khan alleged that the Bharatpur district administration had not yet given permission for a rally in Kaman. “When we approached them, they told us that you know that it is all political. On the same ground, other parties are granted permission for rallies, but not us,” he said, adding that the party was now looking at private grounds to hold the rally. Sunita Yadav, SDM, Pahadi, did not respond to calls.
For Kaman, Khan said not just the Assembly constituency but the entire Mewat region lags behind when it comes to development. “The roads are still ridden with potholes, there is a lack of education and rampant unemployment, prompting people to take up illegal activities,” Khan alleged.
While Pilot is Tonk MLA, minister of state Zahida Khan is the MLA from Kaman and holds the portfolios of Science and Technology (Independent Charge), Printing and Stationery (Independent Charge), Education (Primary and Secondary), Arts, Literature, Culture and ASI.
The common link between the two seats is a sizable minority population. While the number of seats to be contested by the party has not been finalised, the tentative figure is 40, out of which the party has established core teams in over half of them.
The AIMIM constituted its core committee in Rajasthan last May and during his two-day visit to the state in September he addressed his first public meetings in Rajasthan to garner support for his party, which will contest the Assembly elections later this year. During the visit, he toured, along with Jaipur, the Shekhawati region and adjacent districts that have a sizable Muslim population. At his rallies, the AIMIM leader criticised both Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Pilot’s biggest rival in the Congress, and the BJP.
At one public meeting, the AIMIM chief said the nine Muslim MLAs in the Rajasthan Assembly were “helpless and weak” and their voices were not heard by the government. But this would change if an AIMIM MLA were elected to the House, he added.
