AIMIM to back ‘Independent’ Hena Sahab in Siwan

The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Thursday announced its support to Hena Sahab, widow of former MP and strongman late Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Siwan as an Independent candidate.

AIMIM state unit chief Akhtarul Iman told reporters in Patna on Thursday that the party had decided to extend support to Hena Sahab keeping in mind the sentiment of its cadres in Siwan. “Our support is for Hena for her social services,” he said.

Shahabuddin was twice elected MLA and four times as MP from Siwan. After he was jailed in a number of criminal cases, Hena contested the 2004, 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully from Siwan.

On March 10, Hena had made clear that she would contest polls from Siwan.

She claimed she has had no resentment with RJD, with which her husband was strongly aligned all through. “Be it RJD, JD(U), CPI-ML, I have good ties with all of them. But parties came later. For me, Siwan is my family. I am not in RJD right now and so I will contest independently,” she said.

Shahabuddin was very close to RJD president Lalu Prasad.

He died on May 1, 2021, at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in New Delhi due to Covid-19. No one from Lalu Prasad’s family attended his burial in Delhi, although Tejashwi Yadav had attended Shahabuddin’s son Osama’s wedding at Siwan on October 11, 2021.

During the 2019 parliamentary polls, Siwan had about 3 lakh Muslim, 2.5 lakh Yadav, 1.25 lakh Kushwaha and 80,000 Sahni voters, besides 4 lakh upper caste and 2.5 lakh EBC voters.

In 2020 Bihar assembly polls, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM had stunned political observers by winning five seats, all in Seemanchal region. Later, four of them bolted to RJD.