Owaisi kicks off Rajasthan polls campaign, says will give tough fight to Congress, BJP

New Delhi [India], February 18 (ANI): Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is unable to govern the state due to the power tussle between him and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said on Saturday as he kicked off the party's campaign for the state, which is slated to be held later this year.
Owaisi is on a two-day visit to the State from today and has been addressing public meetings.
Speaking to ANI, Owaisi said that his party will give a tough fight to Congress as well as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Assembly elections.
When asked if AIMIM will contest how many seats in Rajasthan and if will it be focussing on giving a tough fight to Congress, Owaisi said, "Why only Congress, we will also give a tough fight to BJP in the elections. We will definitely contest the elections no matter who will be contesting against me. The Rajasthan unit of AIMIM will decide on how many seats we will contest in the 2023 Assembly elections and accordingly we will participate in the elections."
When the key national political parties Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress are focussing on the Northeast assembly poll, Owaisi is busy devising a strategy to register the party's presence in the country.
"When you contest polls, then you do not contest against only one party. You have to fight against every party. There can be no pick and choose. The world rests on hope. Our party is a local party but the members are making efforts to register their presence," Owaisi said.
He said that people would vote for AIMIM because of the infighting within Congress.
"Misgovernance is a big issue in Rajasthan. Due to the internal struggle and differences in Congress, the political leadership is not able to work there and the public is worried. This year the money for many important schemes has been reduced in the budget. The budget for the health, minority, scheduled cast and backward classes has been reduced this year," said Owaisi when asked why people will vote for AIMIM.
This will be the second visit of Owaisi to the State since September last year.
Notably, the Congress has been witnessing factionalism in the state with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and party leader Sachin Pilot at loggerheads over the issue of leadership in the state.
Last year, there was a "political crisis" in the party-ruled state during the Congress Presidential Election when there was a race between Ashok Gehlot and Pilot for the post of Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly is staled to be held later this year.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, Congress had bagged 99 out of 199 seats to wrest power from the BJP in the state. (ANI)