Suspended Trinamool MLA Floats Own Party, Will Contest In 135 Seats In Polls

Humayun Kabir, who was recently suspended by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after repeated clashes with the party's leadership, has decided to float his own political party ahead of the high-stakes assembly elections in West Bengal next year. "I will launch a new political party on December 22. I will declare a 75-member state committee that day, including the Murshidabad district president. Following this, I will decide which party I will ally with," Kabir said on Wednesday.

Amid the West Bengal unit of Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) being optimistic of an alliance with Humayun Kabir, the suspended TMC MLA said, "We are yet to decide on the alliance with AIMIM." Kabir added that his party will contest  on 135 seats of the total 249 in the upcoming assembly elections.

READ: Asaduddin Owaisi's Party Open To Tie-Up With Humayun Kabir. What His Bengal Unit Said 

Kabir has been in the national news after he proposed building a 'Babri' mosque in the minority-dominated Murshidabad district, styled after the 16th-century Babri Masjid that was demolished in Ayodhya in 1992.

After being suspended by the TMC, he has now set his eyes on the Muslim vote bank of the party.

Kabir Steps Back From Resigning As MLA

Meanwhile, at the demand of his supporters, Kabir stepped back from resigning as the MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) of the Debra constituency. "The people who made my MLA have requested me not to step down at this point in time when elections are around the corner," Kabir said on Wednesday.

"The people are unable to get access to their MP, Yusuf Pathan, who stays in Gujarat and hardly visits Bengal. Hence, I decided to go by their (the people's) request," he added.

Will Kabir's Party Ally With Congress?

Amid these political developments, the Indian Secular Front's (ISF) lone MLA, Naushad Siddiqui, made an interesting comment. Siddiqui, 32, said on Wednesday that his party leadership was in talks with the Congress and the Left, looking forward to an alliance.

READ: "I'm Bengal's Owaisi": MLA Wants To "Finish" Trinamool's Muslim Vote Bank

"Humayun Kabir has been mentioning an alliance for the past few days, which I have been saying for the past six months. To defeat TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next assembly polls, a left-Congress-Indian Secular Front should come together," Siddiqui added.

"Humayun Sahab is launching his party on the 22nd; I would see what is going to be their agenda. If it will be a secular party, we will discuss with our other partners over including him among us," he further said.

A couple of months back, the ISF MLA sent a letter to CPI(M) veteran and Left Front chairman Biman Bose, seeking an alliance with the Left and "early negotiations for seat-sharing" for the polls.

In the 2021 elections, the Left continued its alliance with the Congress, which was also joined by the ISF. Both the Left and the Congress failed to win any seat, with the ISF winning one.