New Delhi With the election results still four days away, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, has come on a visit to the Capital for reasons that he says are strictly apolitical.

Contesting from two Lok Sabha seats in Assam — Silchar and Dhubri — Maulana Badruddin Ajmal proudly announced his arrival in Delhi. He is in the city for the inauguration of his 116th perfume store, a first in the Capital.

With the fragrance of ittar wafting in the air and bowls full of dates imported from Saudi Arabia, the maulana who is the founder of the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) announced, “This is our first mark in the Capital. And you wait for May 16, you will be congratulating me for my landslide victory in the election.”

While his party has fielded eight candidates from the 10 seats in Assam - Silchar, Barpeta, Dhubri, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Koliabor, Mangaldai and Karimganj - Ajmal is hoping to make a huge impact in the elections and claims that his party will be able to gather at least four seats.

“The results will be exciting. It’s like a game of kabaddi. Our players will just touch and go, and all of their candidates (the Congress’s) will be knocked down,” says the 54-year-old. With his brother, Mohammad Sirajuddin Ajmal, who also is contesting against Dip Gogoi from Koliabor, the maulana runs the Ajmal Group of Companies that deal in ittars and perfumes across West Asia and Mumbai.

With over 30 per cent of Assam’s population being Muslim, Ajmal’s party is expected to dent Congress vote in the state led by Tarun Gogoi.

He alleges that the Gogoi-led government has done nothing to ensure a better life and security to the minorities. “People belonging to the minority community have been suffering from a sense of insecurity,” Ajmal says.

With the Congress reportedly jittery about the AUDF’s performance in the lok Sabha elections and his ‘coincidental’ visit to Delhi just before the election results are announced, Ajmal diplomatically quips, “We are a secular party and can never support the BJP-AGP tie-up in Assam. But if the UPA, not the Congress, asks us to join them, we are open to talks,” he says.

Interestingly, the Congress is currently leading the state and the AUDF is in the opposition holding 10 seats in the Assembly.

Coming back to his family business and his new store in Nizamuddin West, the Ajmal brothers refer to their company tagline - scent of success. “This is our first step in spreading the scent of success in Delhi. Wait and watch,” says Sirajuddin.