Setback for Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM in Okhla for the upcoming Delhi Assembly Election 2025, according to political analysts.
Although AIMIM is still struggling to announce a candidate from Okhla, the party faced a blow when its member Kaushar Imam Siddique, also known as Laddan, quit the party just a day ago.
Setback for Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM in Okhla
In a grand event held in Batla House, Laddan joined the AAP, with Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan also sharing the stage. The event was a major success, drawing a large crowd of local residents. Laddan, a close aide to Amanatullah, was arrested in 2022 in connection with an Arms Act case and the Delhi Waqf Board PMLA case. He is currently out on bail.
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Political observers in Okhla noted that Laddan’s return to AAP comes at a time when Amanatullah’s popularity is at a low point. They argued that Laddan, who has a modest following among voters from Bihar, will help Amanatullah regain support from Laddan’s followers by bringing him back into the AAP fold.
However, opinions among residents are divided. One local resident pointed out that with the election date still unannounced and Amanatullah facing anti-incumbency, the upcoming election may not be easy for him.
Many residents are openly criticising Amanatullah on social media for his failure to develop Okhla.
In the 2020 Delhi Assembly Election, Amanatullah secured a record 1,30,000 votes, defeating BJP’s Braham Singh by over 70,000 votes. Veteran Congress leader Pervez Hashmi finished third, losing his deposit.
Amanatullah had also won the Okhla seat in 2015, though by a smaller margin, defeating Congress’s Asif Md Khan. He is trying his luck for the third time on AAP ticket.
Laddan’s ties with AAP are not new.
He has long harboured ambitions to become a leader of people of Bihar and, as an alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia, has run for office several times without success.
In 2017, he contested the MCD elections on an RJD ticket, securing 1,887 votes and finishing fourth. Then Shoeb Danish of the Congress party won, defeating his nearest rival, Mahmood Ahmed of AAP, by about 1,000 votes in the Zakir Nagar ward.
Mahmood, who was also in the race for AAP MLA ticket, quit the party after Amanatullah succeeded in getting the ticket again.
Laddan later joined AAP, but left the party when he was unable to secure a ticket for his wife, as the ward was declared female-reserved. He then joined AIMIM and received a ticket for his wife, Nazra Parween.
In the Zakir Nagar ward (number 189), Congress Naziya Danish won, defeating AAP’s Salma Khan by a margin of 473 votes. Naziya received 16,878 votes, while Salma Khan got 16,405 votes. Other candidates included Lata Devi from BJP and Nazra from AIMIM.
Laddan’s wife and AIMIM candidate secured 6,500 votes, diminishing AAP’s chances in Zakir Nagar.
Laddan’s return to AAP has not been well-received by his close circle, with one resident stating that he should have stayed with AIMIM. However, at the event, Laddan declared that he would work for Okhla’s development and stay united with Amanatullah in that effort.
It would be interesting to see whether Amanatullah will get an AAP ticket for him in the next MCD election which is years ago or as in the past use and throw him, said another political watchers.
