By Apoorva Shukla
In a rare feat, Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) asked Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) to “stay away” from assembly elections in Bihar, due to be held later this year. RJD MP Manoj Jha, on Friday, said that AIMIM should extend “in-principle” support to the opposition’s ‘Mahagatbandhan’. “For everyone who is fighting against this right-wing dictatorship, politics of hatred, there are such moments in history when you have to try to strengthen the stream which emerges as the main opponent,” RJD MP Manoj Jha was quoted as saying by PTI. “In the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, the Mahagatbandhan has given a defined line against this politics of hatred. It would be better if you (AIMIM) stay away from elections and extend in-principle support, and pray that this politics of hatred ends in Bihar,” the RJD leader said. AIMIM Keen on Joining Mahagathbandhan Jha’s reaction comes after AIMIM’s Bihar unit president Akhtarul Iman, the lone MLA of the party in the state, had written to RJD chief Lalu Prasad, formally requesting for his party’s inclusion in the grand alliance. In a letter to Prasad dated July 2, which party leaders have shared on social media, Iman said the AIMIM’s inclusion in Bihar’s prototype of the INDIA opposition bloc “will prevent a split in secular votes”. “This will ensure that the next government in the state is formed by the Mahagathbandhan”, Iman has claimed, adding that his party had tried to join the coalition in the last Assembly polls, too, and this time he (Owaisi) has already expressed his wish to “leaders of the Congress and the Left over the phone”. A Look At AIMIM’s Bihar Report Card The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had contested the 2020 Bihar polls in an alliance with former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the now-defunct Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) headed by former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha. The AIMIM won five seats in the 2020 Assembly polls, however, four of the party MLAs joined the RJD within two years.