Owaisi's AIMIM joins with SBSP to contest UP panchayat polls

Lucknow: Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) will contest the upcoming panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with former UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

"Candidates belonging to AIMIM will be fielded in the panchayat elections as part the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha alliance," said Om Prakash Rajbhar who heads the SBSP, reports IANS

He said the nine constituents of the Morcha will hold meetings at all the 75 district headquarters of the state on January 17.

"After this, a joint rally of the Morcha will be organised. It will be addressed by Owaisi as well as other leaders of the front," he added.

Earlier, On Tuesday , MP and AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi made a one-day tour to Purvanchal with SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar. Rajbhar reached Babatpur Airport to welcome Owaisi with a large number of supporters and travel to Azamgarh along with him.

According to a report by India Today, Owaisi along with Rajbhar traveled via Jaunpur, Didarganj to Azamgarh to communicate with the workers and show his presence in the minority populated village Maahul. He also visited the Madarsa at Sarai Meer in Azamgarh.

Owasi along with OP Rajbhar halted at Guraini Madarsa in Jaunpur where he was welcomed by workers and then headed towards Maahul village, Azamgarh at AIMIM state president Shaukat Ali's House for lunch

The report by India today qoutes AIMIM cheif saying that "those who call him a BJP agent are not aware of the ground reality. He also accused that SP and BSP are away from the ground politics, says the report.

"We will raise the unheard voices of the state and will bring change." he further added.

He also said that the Morcha is open for all possibilities with anyone coming together be at SP or BSP. He claimed that what we have done in Bihar will be repeated in UP.

Later, Owaisi, who arrived in Varanasi, launched a scathing attack on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Targeting Akhilesh, Owaisi said, "When there was Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh, he stopped me from coming to UP 12 times. 28 times he had not given us permission.", says the report

On the other hand, SBSP Chief OP Rajbhar who is leading the alliance said "The BJP has not done what they say and I have seen it personally. We have included 9 parties with us to challenge the false claims of BJP and voice the youth, unemployed, poor backward section of the society."

Uttar Pradesh has a total of 58,758 gram panchayats and as many panchayat heads.

As per a state government notification, the five-year tenure of 58,660 gram panchayats, barring 88 of Gautam Buddha Nagar and 10 of Gonda districts, where gram panchayat elections were held later, ended on December 25.

"The SBSP will not support the BJP at any cost." said Rajbhar while replying to a question regard upcoming UP Legislative Council polls.

The SBSP was initially a part of the BJP-led government in the state but Rajbhar was dismissed from the council of ministers by the Chief Minister during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At present, the SBSP has four MLAs in the 403-member UP Assembly.

After Owaisi's party's entry in Bihar election, small parties are trying to get the caste arithmetic in their favour in Purvanchal.

Apart from AIMIM and SBSP, Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha has 8 other parties including Krishna Patel's Apna Dal, Jan Adhikar Party and Chandrashekar Ravan's Azad Samaj party. This Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha which has announced to contest the 2022 UP assembly elections against BJP claims to represent the unheard Muslim-Backward and Dalit caste voices.

(With inputs from agencies)