“We never said that AIMIM will go for alliance with Samajwadi Party if Akhilesh Yadav makes a Muslim leader the deputy chief minister if the party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh. We clearly deny the reports stating the same because neither I nor AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi made these statements,” Shaukat Ali told news agency ANI.
AIMIM Uttar Pradesh president Shaukat Ali further clarified, “We said that SP got 20 percent of Muslim votes in previous elections and came to power but they never made a Muslim the deputy chief minister.”
AIMIM chairman Asaduddin Owaisi said on Saturday that his party was prepared to forge an alliance with the Samajwadi Party provided Akhilesh Yadav agreed to appoint a Muslim MLA as deputy chief minister.
AIMIM would run for 100 seats in the Uttar Pradesh elections next year, according to Hyderabad Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi. A total of 403 seats are available in the parliament.
In the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, there are 110 seats in which Muslims account for 30 to 39 percent of the overall voting base. This percentage ranges from 40 to 49 percent in 44 seats, and from 50 to 65 percent in 11 others.
Owaisi recently travelled to Lucknow and spoke with smaller political parties. The ‘Bhaagidari Sankalp Morcha’ is also a member of the MP.
According to an NDTV article, Owaisi is in touch with Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Shivpal Singh Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP), Keshav Dev Maurya’s Mahan Dal, and Krishna Patel’s Apna Dal.
AIMIM ran candidates in 38 seats in Uttar Pradesh’s 2017 state election but did not win a single seat. The party has decided not to run in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. However, Owaisi, the party’s leader, campaigned against the BJP.
The BJP won 312 Assembly seats in the 2017 state elections. The party received 39.67% of the vote. In the meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party gained 47 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party 19, and the Congress seven.
