Sakshi Maharaj says Owaisi’s AIMIM will help BJP in UP, West Bengal

LUCKNOW: Welcoming the proposed move of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) to contest UP panchayat polls likely to take place March-April, this year, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj said that AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had helped the saffron party in Bihar and he would continue to do so in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal as well.

The BJP MP’s comments were made in response to the Hyderabad MP’s party actively entering the political fray in the northern state. While interacting with media persons in Kannauj while on his way to Delhi, Maharaj said, "May God give more strength to Owaisi. He has helped us in Bihar and will do so in UP and Bengal."

Owaisi had been on a day-long  trip to eastern UP districts including Varanasi, Mau, Jaunpur and Azamgarh on Tuesday to strengthen his party’s base ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls in the state. He had even charged Samajwadi Party president and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav with barring him from coming to UP 12 times.

“When Akhilesh Yadav's government was in power in the state, we were stopped from coming to the state 12 times. Now, I have arrived. I have come to keep my commitment with SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar,” Owaisi had said in Varanasi.

Owaisi had struck an alliance with the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP)  -- Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha -- for the Assembly polls in Bihar. Even Bahujan Samaj Party had also contested Bihar polls in alliance with Owaisi. The other smaller outfits in the Morcha included 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. Rajbhar and Owaisi had recently met in Lucknow to chalk out final terms of the alliance in the wake of 2022 UP Assembly elections.