Guj local bodies polls: Survivor of 2002 riots joins AIMIM

The Congress ruled the Centrebetween 2002 and 2014, but we failed to get any support fromthat party.Pathan had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections on the ticket of Apna Desh Party from Khedaconstituency.Such a big leader Jafri of the Congress was killed,but we are still running to the courts.

Imtiaz Khan Pathan, asurvivor of the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre during theGujarat communal riots who lost ten members of his family inthe violence, on Monday joined the AIMIM ahead of theelections to local bodies, and blamed the Congress for failingto help the riot victims.

Pathan was also a key witness for the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) formed by the Supreme Court toinvestigate the riots cases in Gujarat.

He and several others joined the Asaduddin Owaisi-ledAll India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which iscontesting maiden elections in Gujarat--in Ahmedabad andBharuch cities--in alliance with the Bhartiya Tribal Party(BTP), in the presence of the AIMIM state president SabirKabuliwala.

Former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed along with68 others when a mob attacked the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabadon February 28, 2002, in the aftermath of the Godhra trainburning incident.

''I am joining the AIMIM because the Congress partyfailed to help people like me. The Congress ruled the Centrebetween 2002 and 2014, but we failed to get any support fromthat party.

Pathan had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections on the ticket of Apna Desh Party from Khedaconstituency.

''Such a big leader (Jafri) of the Congress was killed,but we are still running to the courts. The Congress couldhave done things right in ten years, but it did nothing.

The Congress is behind making Narendra Modi the PrimeMinister,'' he said.

The AIMIM has fielded 21 candidates for six wards inAhmedabad Municipal Corporation which will go to polls onFebruary21.