Not ready to contest polls in Bihar yet, says Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: Amid much speculation, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said the party was not ready to contest the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections just yet.

“I have not taken any decision. I had been to Kishangunj and other areas in Bihar recently. The clerics wanted the party to contest the elections. Let me consider it positively,” Mr Owaisi said in an exclusive interview to Deccan Chronicle on Sunday. But he also said: “Bihar, we are not ready yet.”

“But the MIM will contest in the Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka Assembly elections whenever they are held. We are not in a hurry to expand our base,” he said.
The party would contest independently wherever it fields candidates, Mr Owaisi said.

The party has two MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly, apart from corporators in local bodies, and has contested the recent Bengaluru Municipal Corporation elections.

Asked about his assessment of the 15-month BJP rule, Mr Owaisi said: “I am not making any fresh observations. Anyone can go through the ministry of home affairs’ figures on the crime situation in the country. More riots have taken place during the last one year. Top Sangh Parivar leaders’ utterances are going unabated. The BJP does not believe in what they are saying.”