UP Assembly polls: AIMIM denies reports of alliance with SP

Speaking to ANI, AIMIM Uttar Pradesh president Shaukat Ali said, "We have never said that AIMIM will go for alliance with Samajwadi Party if Akhilesh Yadav makes a Muslim leader as deputy chief minister if the party comes into power in Uttar Pradesh. We clearly deny the reports stating that because neither I nor AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi made these statements."

"We said that SP has got 20 per cent of Muslim votes in the previous elections and came into power but they did not make any Muslim as deputy chief minister," he said.

Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday reportedly said that if SP chief Akhilesh Yadav agrees to make any Muslim MLA as the deputy chief minister in Uttar Pradesh then he is ready to form an alliance with the party.

The Hyderabad MP had earlier announced that AIMIM will contest 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh polls scheduled early next year.

At present, there are 110 Assembly constituencies where Muslim voters make up around 30-39 per cent. On 44 seats, this percentage rises to 40-49 per cent while on 11 seats, the Muslim voters are around 50-65 per cent.

Owaisi had earlier visited Lucknow and has been in talks with smaller political outfits. He is also part of 'Bhaagidari Sankalp Morcha'.

He 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.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, AIMIM fielded its candidates on 38 seats but could not manage to win even a single constituency. It decided not to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, however, Owaisi campaigned against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In 2017, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.