In a major development related to fast approaching UP assembly elections, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and Azad Samaj Party (Kansi Ram)'s Chandrashekhar Azad have announced alliance.
They said both the parties intend to stop the BJP from returning to power in the state. But the alliance could hurt the SP-Congress combine more than the BJP-led NDA. One Congress leader has said that the new alliance will "only hurt UP as it will help the BJP to win the elections by splitting the secular votes."
The electoral arithmetic suggest the Muslim-Dalit or the Bheem-MIM front could end up hurting the Opposition Samajwadi-Congress more than the BJP-led NDA.
The new political understanding could result in closely contested contests in both western and eastern parts of UP.
Seen as the Third Front; the alliance, named the Samajik Parivartan Morcha, banks on the support of Muslims and Jatav Dalits, two communities that helped Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
These communities form around 40% of the UP's electorate and therefore may determine the final outcome.
The new alliance now looks set to eat into the traditional vote bank of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, the AIMIM contested 95 constituencies but failed to win any seats, securing around 0.49% of the votes. Azad's party also failed to open its account, polling around 0.13% of the vote share.
Moreover, Akhilesh Yadav is already facing attacks over his proposed Ram Temple visit, with the BJP seeking to corner him further over the SP's past stance on the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Azad rejected the description of their alliance as a third front. "It is not a third front. It is the Samajik Parivartan Morcha. If you understand its depth, you will realise that it is the first front," he said.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) president Chandrashekhar Azad, also MP representing Nagina constituency, announced the formation of the Samajik Parivartan Morcha in Lucknow on Thursday (November 12).
They also named the Nagina Lok Sabha MP Azad as its chief ministerial candidate for the 2027 Assembly elections.
Owaisi had repeatedly reached out to the SP for an alliance, but his proposals were turned down by its chief, Akhilesh Yadav. With the SP unwilling to accommodate AIMIM, Owaisi eventually joined hands with Chandrashekhar Azad, who is loooking to expand his electoral footprint in UP.
"I can say with confidence this will be a strong alternative in UP to stop the BJP from coming to power for the third time," Owaisi said at the joint press conference on Thursday.
UP's caste politics is an important factor in the final electoral mandate. Over the last decade - since 2012 - the BSP led by Mayawati got marginalised and in the process; the BJP's performance has been good in 2017 and 2022 assembly elections. The Lotus party won 71 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and did pretty well in 2019 also.
However, as BJP made some major lapses in selection of candidates and there was also a significant caste shift; the BJP suffered a major setback in the key northern Indian state.
Congress leader Vijay Thottathil acknowledged the threat posed by the Owaisi-Azad alliance in a post on X.
Calling the Samajik Parivartan Morcha "not a third front but rather a disaster front", Thottathil alleged that
"Owaisi has been always a B team of BJP who splits the minority votes" and claimed that Azad had also been drawn into the arrangement.
ends
No comments:
Post a Comment