Lucknow: President of the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi has finally extended an olive branch to the Samajwadi Party (SP).
After mounting a vicious attack on SP President Akhilesh Yadav in Azamgarh earlier this year, the AIMIM now said that it has no objection if the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha (of which it is a constituent) decides to enter into an alliance with the party for the 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
AIMIM is one of the 10 political parties which have joined hands under the banner of Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, the president of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP).
This is the first time that there has been any talk of the AIMIM coming together with the SP.
"If Rajbhar, the convenor of the Morcha, decides that it should enter into an alliance with the SP, our party will abide by the decision," said AIMIM state president Shauquat Ali.
"It is good that the SP is ready to join hands with smaller parties to defeat the BJP in the assembly elections due early next year. UP has 20 per cent Muslim population but the community is yet to receive its due in terms of representation in the government."
He added that the AIMIM's demand of adequate representation to Muslims in the government would gather momentum with the party President's scheduled visit to the state in August.
The AIMIM MP is slated to visit Prayagraj, Kaushambhi and Fatehpur once the monsoon session of Parliament concludes.
The SP, on the other hand, is wary of aligning with the AIMIM since the party feels that Owaisi's brand of politics could prove detrimental to its interests.
Moreover, the AIMIM plans to dent the Muslim vote base of the SP and the latter is completely unwilling to share its votes with any other party.
AIMIM had fielded its candidates on 38 seats in the 2017 assembly elections but did not win a single seat. The party got 2,05,232 votes in entire Uttar Pradesh, which was only 0.2 per cent of the total votes polled.
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