AIMIM to set up party branch in Jharkhand; denies reports of Gujarat unit

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will set up a party unit in Jharkhand where Assembly elections are due to be held in the state later this year, party president Asaduddun Owaisi said.

Owaisi also said denied reports about setting up a AIMIM unit in Gujarat despite a request for the same by the state's Muslim community, ahead of the municipal elections in February next year.

The AIMIM had won two seats -- in its bastion of Hyderabad and in Maharashtra's Aurangabad -- in this year's Lok Sabha elections. The Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled in October and Owaisi's party is likely to contest the polls.

Before the national elections, Owaisi said that he had plans to expand his party's footprint all over the country for the development of minorities.