RJD, Congress responsible for "dividing minority votes": AIMIM's Waris Pathan amid vote counting in Bihar

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 14 (ANI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Waris Pathan on Friday said that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress of the Mahagathbandhan were responsible for "dividing minority votes".
He dismissed AIMIM's criticism of being the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 'B team'. Pathan argued that his party's lead in a few seats in the Bihar assembly election results was a "huge boost" and expressed hope for winning in at least seven constituencies.
The AIMIM leader said that his party had offered to join the Mahagathbandhan with only six seats.
"This is a huge boost for us that we are leading. We hope to win a total of 7-8 seats by the end of the counting. The RJD and Congress are themselves responsible for the division of Minority votes, as we had offered them the opportunity to come together by seeking only six seats from the Mahagathbandhan, but they refused. First in Maharashtra and now in Bihar, they called us B team and faced defeat and humiliation," Pathan said.
The AIMIM further stated that Mahagathbandhan made a "tactical error" in Bihar after declaring Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani as the Deputy Chief Ministerial candidate.
"There was a tactical mistake by Mahagathbandhan in Bihar where they declared a man from a 2 per cent voter base of the Malla community, a person from 14 per cent caste voter base was declared Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadanvis' face, but the community with 19 per cent voter base was completely neglected and the results are visible for the same," Pathan said.
"We are very strong in the Seemanchal areas, and we are thankful. We hope that by the end of the counting we will emerge even stronger with 7-8 wins," he added.
The AIMIM is leading in five assembly constituencies, including Jokihat, Thakurganj, Kochadhaman, Amour, and Baisi.
The NDA is leading in Bihar, with Nitish Kumar and PM Modi's popularity driving the surge. They're poised to break the 2010 record, when the NDA won 206 seats.
The current trends showcase that the people have once again bestowed their trust on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the NDA is heading towards yet another historic victory.
In the current trends, the Nitish Kumar-led NDA has secured a combined total of 196 seats, with BJP leading in 88, JDU in 79, LJP 21, HAM 4 and RLM 4 as per data from the EC at 12:52 pm.
RJD leads in 31 seats, Congress leads in 4, CPI(ML) lead 5, while CPI-M 1 and VIP lead in 0 seats each, taking the total to 41, as per data from the EC at 12:52 pm. Additionally, the BSP leads in one seat, and the AIMIM in five seats. (ANI)