Hyderabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday said that the West Bengal voters' verdict in favour of the BJP must be respected and the so-called "secular parties" will not be able to stop the saffron party's expansion, PTI reported.
Owaisi, who responded to the assembly election results, thanked voters who cast their votes in favour of AIMIM in West Bengal though all the 11 candidates fielded by the party lost.
"The people of West Bengal have given power to the BJP. We have to respect that decision. It is the people's decision. Thirdly, I am of the opinion that I have been consistently saying that these so-called secular parties will not be able to stop the BJP," he told reporters here.
He claimed that the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Delhi, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the erstwhile NCP in Maharashtra and TMC in West Bengal tried to "play soft Hindutva" in the past and that Muslims should try to create independent political leadership.
has drawn a blank in the West Bengal Assembly elections, with all its candidates losing their contests and forfeiting deposits, according to results announced on Monday, May 4.
The party, making its electoral debut in the state, fielded candidates in 11 constituencies across districts with significant Muslim populations, including Murshidabad, Malda, Birbhum, North 24 Parganas, Paschim Bardhaman, and Uttar Dinajpur.
Reacting to the outcome, AIMIM national spokesperson Adil Hussain said the party would conduct a detailed review of its performance. “We will analyse the performance of our candidates and the party,” he said.
Initially, AIMIM had entered into a pre-poll alliance with the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), led by Humayun Kabir. However, the alliance was later called off after a sting operation in which Kabir was allegedly heard discussing plans that suggested attempts to split Muslim votes.
The BJP on Monday scripted history by winning 206 seats to secure more than a two-thirds majority in the West Bengal assembly polls, ending the TMC's 15-year rule.