AIMIM may fight more than four seats in Maha

Nagpur/Chandrapur: AIMIM is contemplating contesting more than four Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra, in contrast to party chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s earlier announcement, said party MP Imtiyaz Jaleel.Interacting with media persons at Nagpur airport on Saturday, enroute to neighbouring Chandrapur where he had to address a public rally, Jaleel said, “Our party head Asaduddin Owaisi had indeed said that we will contest four seats from Maharashtra, but political landscape is shifting and we think we can field candidates from some more constituencies.” He, however, refused to comment on which constituencies the party had in mind. “You will get to know the details soon,” Jaleel added.On a statement made by Amravati MP Navneet Rana that Jaleel must try his luck from her constituency, he said, “Before making such a statement, she (Rana) must realize that her constituency comes under the reserved category. Since I belong to the open category, it’s obviously not possible for me to contest against her. However, if she can get me a fake caste certificate, it might be possible.”Later in Chandrapur, Jaleel said his tour of Vidarbha has been a long one and he found a few units were quite strong. “There was a tremendous response to the recent visit to Akola. Now we are analyzing the support base in Chandrapur,” he said.“Next on target are Nagpur and Amravati. However, it is not likely that AIMIM will contest all these seats,” said Jaleel.On the question of alliance with other parties for Lok Sabha, Jaleel said, “We approached Congress and NCP, but they shun us like we are untouchables.”Jaleel said in Maharashtra the level of politics has stooped to a new low. “You look at what is happening across the country and Maharashtra is witnessing the worst level of politics,” said Jaleel. He accused the BJP-led govt of using state machinery to influence political decisions. “Govt is using power, police and central agencies to coerce politicians into submission. Those deserting their parties were given only two options, either go to jail or join BJP,” he said.