Ambedkar-Owaisi alliance is 'BJP's B-Team': Shiv Sena

The alliance between Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and All India Majlis Ittehadul-e-Muslimeen (AIMIM), announced in Maharashtra on October 2, would prove to be the 'B-Team of the BJP', said Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday.

Terming the political partnership between BBM-AIMIM as undesirable, he said as of now, it is quite difficult to predict how it could impact the political scenario during the 2019 elections.

"However, if BRP President Prakash Ambedkar was really interested in defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party, then it was not expected of him to join hands with a party (AIMIM) which follows the ideals of the Muslim League," Raut said.

He said there is speculation that the BBM-AIMIM alliance has been engineered by the BJP to deprive the Congress of the Dalit-Muslim votes in the next elections.

Raut said that though Ambedkar is the grandson of the architect of Indian Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar, in the past several elections, the Ambedkarites don't seem to have supported him much. "And now this partnership is with a party having divergent views compared to B.R. Ambedkar's."

The Sena's Rajya Sabha MP also pointed out that now the Ambedkarites are "a highly aware and awakened community" which would not easily accept the alliance.

"I doubt if this alliance will be of much benefit," Raut said.

Marking a new political dimension in Maharashtra, Owaisi and Ambedkar on Tuesday addressed a massive joint rally in Aurangabad to announce the alliance, saying they wanted 'freedom' from the BJP government led by Prime Minister Modi as his followers have committed atrocities on both Dalis and minorities.

They also said that the plight of Dalits and Muslims remains unchanged with a majority continuing to live below the poverty line, even facing oppression of the authorities.

--IANS

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