We Are Political Untouchables For Them: AIMIM On Not Being Invited To Opposition Meet

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen National Spokesperson Waris Pathan the Opposition parties for not inviting AIMIM saying that they were "political untouchables" for the 26 like-minded parties.

The AIMIM national spokesperson also questioned why did the so-called secular parties ignore Asaduddin Owaisi's party.

"The so-called secular parties did not call us, we are political untouchables for them. There are leaders who were once with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including Nitish Kumar, Uddhav Thackeray, and Mehbooba Mufti. We saw Arvind Kejriwal abusing Congress during the Gujarat Assembly elections, but even he is sitting in Bengaluru. Even we (AIMIM) are putting efforts to defeat BJP in 2024, but they (Opposition parties) are ignoring Asaduddin Owaisi and our party," he said.

"You want the votes of the Muslim community but you don't want to represent them politically and then you speak of secularism," Waris questioned.

The two-day joint meeting came to an end on Tuesday with the 26 parties agreeing to come up under one name - Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA.

A group of 26 like-minded parties et in Bengaluru to discuss strategy to take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

After deliberations, the leaders eventually the 26-member bloc agreed to call their grouping, INDIA -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

They also agreed to set up an 11-member coordination committee but left the decision on its members and convener for their next meeting, which they decided will be held in Mumbai in Maharashtra, where none of the alliance members is in power.

"Earlier, we were UPA and now all the 26 parties have given a name to the opposition and that is - Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Everybody has agreed upon this, and the resolution for the name was passed unanimously," said Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.