New Delhi: Asaduddin Owaisi’s plans to expand the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Uttar Pradesh could face a setback with party national
spokesperson Syed Asim Waqar expected to join the Congress, according to sources.
Waqar is likely to join the Congress in Delhi on Wednesday. He has been associated with AIMIM for nearly a decade and has been one of the party’s most visible faces in Uttar Pradesh. His possible exit comes months before the Assembly elections in the politically important state.
Waqar has reportedly been unhappy with decisions concerning the Uttar Pradesh unit of AIMIM. Before joining Owaisi’s party, he spent around two decades with the Samajwadi Party.
Congress move could boost UP plans
Sources said Minority Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi played an important role in Waqar’s proposed move to the Congress. Waqar has not confirmed or denied reports that he is leaving AIMIM. If he does join Congress, the move could strengthen the party’s position as it prepares for the Uttar Pradesh polls.
Congress and the Samajwadi Party are allies in the state. Although seat-sharing talks between the two parties have not formally started, the entry of prominent political figures could help Congress push for a larger share of seats.
Sources also said Congress is in touch with Kaushal Kishore, a former BJP MP from Mohanlalganj and former Union minister of state.
Owaisi keen to expand AIMIM in UP
The possible exit comes as Owaisi seeks to establish AIMIM as a stronger political alternative in Uttar Pradesh. The party has not announced how many seats it plans to contest but Owaisi has made it clear that AIMIM will fight the election.
“Our party has not yet decided how many seats we will contest. We will definitely contest the elections and if we perform better than before, it will soon become clear which seats we will contest, where, and what the number will be. Secondly, the party’s organisation has become much stronger than before. An understanding has developed among the public that these false accusations against the AIMIM party and the repeated propagation of such allegations, create an illusion that they (the NDA) are coming to power. They always invoke secularism, a secularism that has no connection with reality,” he was quoted as saying by news agency IANS last month.
Owaisi also said the party expected to win several Assembly seats and claimed that the Bihar elections had strengthened the idea of AIMIM as an alternative. For AIMIM, Waqar’s possible departure could therefore come at a sensitive time as the party attempts to build its organisation and challenge established players in Uttar Pradesh.
