LUCKNOW: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who had arrived in Varanasi on Tuesday to strengthen his alliance with Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), launched a broadside on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claiming that the SP chief had barred him from coming to Uttar Pradesh a dozen times when he was UP CM before 2017.
While interacting with media persons at Varanasi airport while proceeding to Jaunpur in eastern UP, Owaisi said that he had now arrived in Uttar Pradesh to keep his commitment to Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief OP Rajbhar with whom AIMIM had cobbled up an alliance -- Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha -- in the state.
Encouraged by his party’s performance in Bihar elections where AIMIM won five seats, Owaisi is on a visit to eastern UP districts to explore the possibility of expanding his alliance by roping in more parties.
On a day-long visit to eastern UP, Owaisi met alliance workers in the Jalalpur locality of Jaunpur and then proceeded to Azamgarh and Mau. Azamgarh, a Muslim-dominated constituency in eastern UP, is represented by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lok Sabha and Mau is the turf of mafia don-turned-politician Mokhtar Ansari, currently lodged in Ropar jail.
Owaisi has always been vocal against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav as both AIMIM and Samajwadi Party have a common constituency in Muslims. While SP banks upon Muslim-Yadav (MY) combination to win elections in UP, Owaisi too targets Muslim votes.
With Rajbhar and Owaisi already in alliance, now the political circles are abuzz with the speculations that if the BSP, which had contested Bihar polls in coalition with AIMIM, will shake hands with Owaisi in UP also or not. However, BSP is a much bigger player in UP where AIMIM has yet to register its presence.
The other probable partner likely to join the Owais-Rajbhar alliance is Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party–Lohia (PSP-Lohia) headed by Akhilesh Yadav’s estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav. Recently, SBSP chief OP Rajbhar had met Shivpal Yadav after the latter expressed his willingness to be a part of the alliance after getting a rebuff from nephew Akhilesh over seat-sharing in 2022. Akhilesh had said that SP would spare just one seat for Shivpal if he wanted to contest in the 2022 polls alliance with SP.
The Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha has other smaller parties including former UP Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha's Jan Adhikar Party, Babu Ram Pal's Rashtriya Uday Party, Anil Singh Chauhan's Janata Kranti Party, and Premchand Prajapati's Rashtriya Upekshit Samaj Party.