Mamata Banerjee is afraid of losing her vote bank, claimed Asaduddin Owaisi's party AIMIM. (File)
Slamming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her "minority extremism" comment, AIMIM state president Zameerul Hasan has claimed that his party is gaining ground in the state which has angered the Trinamool Congress chief "as her politics revolves around minority vote bank".
Alleging that the TMC government was not doing anything good for the Muslim community, except doing vote bank politics, Mr Hasan said that the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen or AIMIM will fight the 2021 assembly polls in West Bengal.
"We were ready for the last parliamentary elections but our party president Asaduddin Owaisi had asked us not to contest as minority votes might get divided and TMC candidates might loose in minority dominated areas," he told news agency Press Trust of India.
Mr Hasan said Ms Banerjee has lost her cool as the AIMIM has been growing by leaps and bounds in Bengal, especially in bordering districts.
Marking a shift in her rhetoric on religious extremism, Ms Banerjee had, at an event in Cooch Behar on Monday, asked people to refrain from listening to "minority extremists" who have their base in Hyderabad, apparently targeting AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, a Lok Sabha MP from that city.
"Now she is having problem with Asaduddin Owaisi and the AIMIM. During the Nandigram movement in 2007, she herself had called him to Bengal and had sought his support," he said, adding, "But now as it is due to her policies that the BJP is gaining ground in Bengal, she is having problem with the AIMIM. This is nothing but political hypocrisy."