Exclusive | Lok Sabha elections 2024: No talk of development but rifts to gain votes, says Imtiyaz Jaleel

I would like to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi where is lsquonal and jalrsquo drinking water The socalled secular parties dont have even a single Muslim candidate in the state The BJP and Congress are the same they are just using votersrdquo Imtiyaz Jaleel MP and MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen MIM candidate in the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency said while speaking with middayExcerptsYou have been an MP for 5 years and before that an MLA but still your party hasnrsquot grownWe are trying to grow the party trying to reach the grassroots But the mentality of voters is to support Congress and NCP They think if they want to defeat BJP they need to support Congress and NCP That causes a little difficulty But our efforts are onIn 2019 you won because of the vote division between the Shiv Sena and the independent candidateNo not at all My winning margin has reduced due to the independent candidate The votes that the independent candidate got were antiShiv Sena votes If there was no independent candidate I would have got those votes My winning margin was reduced due to the vote divisionWhat have you done for the constituencyI have worked to increase air connectivity to Aurangabad which will help increase tourism as well as business The expansion of the airport is underway I have a plan to start a flight service which will connect metro cities across India Also I have a plan to start a flight to Jedda which prove useful for visiting Makkaah We have also worked on road development We will start a sports university which will give us the opportunity to sportsmen of Marathwada and are working on developing IT industries in AurangabadBut industrialists here are being threatened with ransom callsI have met industrialists and assured them that strict action would be taken against the culprits I have even discussed the matter with police authorities at the city and district level and asked them to maintain law and order in the regionWhat about accusations that you are the BJPrsquos B teamWe are contesting just a few constituencies how does it make sense In my view the Congress always used the minority by instilling fear of the BJP Tell me why there isnrsquot a single Muslim candidate from the socalled secular party There are leaders of the minority asking people not to vote for me Minority workers in their party should question the leaders are they only there for groundlevel work Dont they want to be MPs or MLAs Both the BJP and Congress are the same both gain votes by instilling fear in people Our party registered with the Election Commission so by law we can contest the electionWhat about PM Modirsquos vision for developmentIf the prime minister came to Aurangabad I would ask him where is nal and jal Aurangabad is facing a water crisis The BJP had also assured houses for every family Does every family have a house They ONLY make false promises to the votersThere is a serious water issue in the city and the districtYes there is a major issue Drinking water and roads are major issues in the constituency The elections were never fought taking development into account instead they were fought on religious grounds But now the situation is changing Voters trust in the work I have doneWill the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi not being with you this time have an impactDuring the election new parties are coming together while some parties are moving away All major parties in the state have a split Voters have faith in the work I have done for the constituency Im getting support from all communitiesWhat about Chandrakant Khaire seeking the support of MuslimsHe has never thought about Muslim voters but now he started thinking about them as they need their votes5No of years Imtiyaz Jaleel has been MP