Owaisi to start four-day ‘Seemanchal Nyay Yatra’ from Kishanganj today

Patna: After failing to get response from the INDIA bloc despite repeated requests for a place in the opposition alliance, the AIMIM, headed by Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi, has sounded the poll bugle with its four-day “Seemanchal Nyay Yatra,” which will kick off from Kishanganj on Wednesday.Owaisi, whose party won five assembly seats in the 2020 state elections, landed in Bihar on Tuesday to begin the “yatra”. Talking to reporters, he said AIMIM had already declared its active participation in the upcoming assembly elections, adding that the yatra reflects the party’s commitment to this cause.“The election campaign has already begun,” Owaisi said, adding that during the four-day yatra he would visit several constituencies in the Seemanchal region, interact with people, and hold public meetings.As per the programme, Owaisi will launch the “Seemanchal Nyay Yatra” from Ruidhasa ground in Kishanganj and then tour various areas under the Kochadhaman, Kishanganj, Thakurganj, and Bahadurganj constituencies. From Sept 25 to 27, he will visit other neighbouring constituencies of Seemanchal and hold public meetings, state party president Akhtarul Iman said.Outlining the party’s strategy, Iman said AIMIM is compelled to fight independently in the state as its demand to be included in the INDIA bloc was rejected despite repeated appeals.

“We demanded only six seats from the INDIA bloc, saying our inclusion would not only prevent a split in secular votes but also strengthen the alliance. But our demand was not considered,” Iman told TOI over the phone from Kishanganj on Tuesday.“Communal forces can win — that’s fine for the INDIA bloc. But when it comes to the emergence of minority leadership, they draw the line,” he alleged.Iman added that in the next phase, AIMIM will launch similar yatras in the Magadh, Mithilanchal, and Bhagalpur regions.Stating that the Seemanchal zone has suffered gross injustice since Independence, Iman said per capita income in the region remains among the lowest in the state.Sources said AIMIM leaders initially wrote to the presidents of all INDIA bloc allies, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad, and later extended support to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “Voter Adhikar Yatra,” but received no response. A miffed AIMIM leadership even staged a demonstration in front of the residence of former CM Rabri Devi, demanding entry into the opposition alliance, but the move failed to yield results.