A former journalist, Imtiyaz Jaleel is the party’s face in Maharashtra
Imtiyaz Jaleel was instrumental in ensuring that the AIMIM emerged as the main opposition party in the Aurangabad civic body polls in April 2015. - See more at: indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bharat-mata-ki-jai-row-a-former-journalist-imtiyaz-jaleel-is-the-partys-face-in-maharashtra/#sthash.pt2YqNHr.dpuf
Imtiaz Jaleel (MLA), MIM addressing the media after the party MLA Waris Pathan was suspended from assemly.
Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bharat-mata-ki-jai-row-a-former-journalist-imtiyaz-jaleel-is-the-partys-face-in-maharashtra/#sthash.pt2YqNHr.dpuf
It was during a four-hour-long rickety drive from Bhagwangad in Beed to Pune, after covering a rally of BJP’s Pankaja Munde, that Imtiyaz Jaleel, 48, then a television journalist, decided to “re-evaluate” his life.
“After looking at old women sitting in the sweltering heat of Bhagwangad, waiting for a politician to make an appearance, the inanity of what I was doing hit me. I needed to re-evaluate my life and decided to quit my job during my drive back to Pune,” Jaleel told The Indian Express during an interaction at his house in Aurangabad in 2014.
The AIMIM offered him a ticket to contest from the Muslim-dominated locality of Aurangabad Central in the 2014 assembly elections. “The AIMIM, which was looking to expand into Aurangabad, had sent a team to identify potential candidates. The party was looking to project a young, educated Muslim face and was considering a number of contenders. It was actually keen on nominating Jaleel’s elder brother, but he declined. Jaleel’s relation with Asaduddin Owaisi, in his capacity as a journalist, then prompted Owaisi to offer him that seat,” said a source.
