West Bengal elections: Owaisi ditches Kabir after ‘Rs 10,000-crore BJP deal’ video

KOLKATA: Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM on Friday severed its electoral alliance with Humayun Kabir-led Aam Janata Unnayan Party, a day after an alleged sting video showed a person resembling the suspended TMC MLA discussing a Rs 1,000-crore arrangement with the BJP to gain post-election support and suggesting the need to “mislead” Muslim voters to influence poll results. “Humayun Kabir’s revelations show how vulnerable Bengali Muslims are. AIMIM cannot engage in rhetoric that questions its integrity,” the party posted on In the previous alliance, AUJP contested 182 of the 294 seats and AIMIM contested 17. The video, titled “The Reality of HK,” was released by TMC and is said to have been recorded on December 19, but this has not been confirmed. Kabir dismissed it as AI-generated, accused the TMC of trying to weaken his support base and said he would approach the courts. Amit Shah denies any links with the BJP. “Kabir and the BJP are like the South Pole and the North Pole,” he said, even though Kabir had contested the 2019 LS polls on the BJP ticket. Kabir attended a rally in Rampurhat but the AIMIM leader was not present. He accused Mamata Banerjee of acting as a “middleman for the RSS”. – Tamaghna Banerjee & S Boral