Times News Network
Lucknow: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen ( AIMIM ) chief Asasdiddin Owaisi will address a joint press conference with Azad Samaj Party-Kanshi Ram (ASP-KR) chief Chandrashekhar Azad in Lucknow on Thursday to announce coming together of the two parties for the 2027 UP polls. In the 2022 Assembly polls, AIMIM had fielded candidates on 95 seats and secured 0.49% of the votes but failed open its account in UP. ASP-KR contested on over a 100 seats and polled around 0.13% of the votes.
AIMIM’s UP chief Shaukat Ali said the party turned to Azad after efforts to reach out to the main opposition parties including SP, Congress and BSP proved futile. ASP-KR has been voicing concerns primarily of the Dalit community While Owaisi’s AIMIM openly boasts of proactively taking up Muslim issues like no other party — be it in UP or other parts of India. The two parties plan to reach out to the Muslims and the Dalits together in the UP polls. It now remains to be seen if the alliance will be able to dent the SP and the BSP who claim hold over minority and Dalit votes in the state.
Interestingly, Owaisi had earlier openly shown his inclination to join hands with the Samajwadi Party and repeatedly sought a poll pact with Akhilesh Yadav from public platforms.