Praniti Shinde had a close shave against MIM’s Taufiq Shaikh in the fight for the Solapur City Central, a Shinde family bastion for decades.

Congress MLA Praniti Shinde, daughter of former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, stirred the hornet’s nest on Wednesday by branding the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) a “treasonous political party” and calling for a ban on it.

“The MIM is inimical to the country’s interests. They have never tried to project their ideas on a democratic platform. I am firmly for the proscription of this party,” she said, speaking in Solapur district.

Ms. Shinde, the MLA for Solapur City Central, further said that the speeches of MIM leaders ought to be carefully studied and police action initiated against them.

“The MIM has fundamentally been against India rather than any section of the population and harboured plans for subversion,” she remarked.

The Hyderabad-based party, contesting the Maharashtra elections for the first time, proved to be the dark horse, winning two of the 24 seats it contested, eating into the Congress’ minority vote base. The MIM got around 1 per cent of the total votes polled in the State elections.

Ms. Shinde had a close shave in the fight for the Solapur City Central seat, a Shinde family bastion for decades. While eventually winning by a slender margin of 9,000 votes, she was trailing behind MIM candidate Taufiq Shaikh at one point.

Ms. Shinde’s statement has provoked the ire of MIM supporters in Solapur.

“Such utterances are not correct. She [Ms. Shinde] is upset by the MIM’s success in Solapur. The Congress has only given empty promises to the Muslims and weaker sections of society so far. We are contemplating reporting this statement to the Governor and urge him to take action against Ms. Shinde,” said Mr. Shaikh.

With the Solapur civic polls in the offing, observers say that the MIM’s spectacular success in grabbing a significant chunk of Muslim and Dalit votes in Solapur is posing a serious threat to Mr. Shinde’s stronghold, especially after the Congress’ poor show in this election.

“With Dalit candidates fielded by the MIM also putting up a decent show, the party’s forging of a Muslim-Dalit alliance seems to be playing off, compounding the Congress’ woes in the sugar district of Solapur,” a political observer from Solapur told The Hindu.

From The Hindu archives

>Praniti Shinde, a reluctant politician