Is Owaisi helping BJP?

With the Bihar assembly polls just around the corner, all the political parties along with their allies are gearing up for the big show.

These polls remain critical for the BJP and it’s trying to look for alternate strategies with desperate attempts to strengthen its vote bank. Looks like AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi might just come to their rescue.

The JD(U)-RJD-Congress however seems restless with Owaisi’s entry into the polls battle.

During a recent press conference the Industry and Commerce minister Nirmala Seetharaman perhaps got too candid and expressed joy over AIMIM’s decision to contest and also went on to add that this might actually be beneficial for the BJP.

This statement sparked off a political drama where the opposition allies smell an under table treaty between the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the BJP which were earlier rumoured to be arch rivals.

Asaduddin Owaisi had announced his party’s decision to contest from the Seemanchal area of Bihar in the upcoming Assembly polls. He decided to field his candidates in the backward Muslim-dominated area of Seemanchal that comprises of five provinces ; Kishanganj, Purnia, Araria, Katihar and Sapaul.

The tragedy here is that the Congress and Lalu Prasad had pinned their hopes on the same area which is home to a large number of Muslims.

Earlier in the day BJP felt threatened with the JD(U)-RJD-Congress getting together in one of the most important elections as it’s opposition allies had a huge Muslim-vote advantage that could have proven fatal for the Bhartiya Janata Party.

However looks like Owaisi could be their man-of-the-monent who might be successful in influencing the Muslim population which will ultimately cut into the expected votes of the trio ally, exactly what BJP was hoping for.

According to reports the trio ally was banking on a 16.5% of the votes from this backward Muslim-dominated area with fair support from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. But Owaisi’s entry might change all the calculations.

In spite of this development giving cold feet to the JD(U)-RJD-Congress partnership, the RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha seems to remain unfazed. He came out on his opposition and said “ We have nothing to fear. Our workers are solidly on the ground in Semanchal. Our voters will not accept outsiders- They are political and not radical’.

Nevertheless Owaisi’s victory in the last Lok Sabha polls is still afresh in their heads, where AIMIM’s entry disrupted their Muslim votes and benefitted the BJP just like what it’s looking to do this time around. This is sure sending out jitters to the trio ally and they seem miffed with Owaisi’s admission into the poll race.

This poll season is sure going to be an interesting battle that will be carried out in five phases between October and November this year.