In a major setback to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls, the party's state in-charge Zamirul Hasan said Friday that he has resigned from the party and joined the "Indian National League".
Speaking to news agency ANI, Zamirul Hasan said, "95 percent of AIMIM workers in West Bengal are with me. Asaduddin Owaisi had come here in Bengal with certain intentions to work for BJP. That is the reason he had done meetings with Abbas Siddiqui. He is running a one-man party where Bengal leaders are not taken in the loop."
Mr Hasan further said he will support West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram and all the strong contenders against BJP across the state.
"We will support the Chief Minister in Nandigram so that Suvendu Adhikari does not win. Not only TMC, in every booth where congress, left or TMC is strong we will lend our support," he added
Nandigram will witness the most high-profile battle in West Bengal elections with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee taking on her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, who had joined BJP in December last year.
Mr Adhikari had earlier said that BJP will defeat Ms Banerjee by over 50,000 votes in Nandigram.
The polling in Nandigram will take place on April 1, in the second phase of the upcoming Assembly elections.
After bagging a few seats in the Bihar assembly last year, AIMIM has fastened its seat belt for the poll-bound West Bengal.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
The state is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with the Trinamool Congress, Congress-Left alliance, and BJP in the fray.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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