Modi should not join war against ISIS; SP govt ignoring Muslims in UP: Asaduddin Owaisi

Lucknow: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi attacked the ruling Samajwadi Party and the BJP for ignoring 'Muslims and the downtrodden' in Uttar Pradesh during his first rally in the state.

Coming down heavily on the ruling party, the AIMIM chief said, ''The poor are dying, farmers are in penury here, but neither the SP nor BJP cares about them.''

Owaisi also criticised SP for not fulfilling its promise of providing reservation to poor Muslims in UP.

Shifting his focus to dreaded terrorist outfit Islamic State, the AIMIM leader said that he and his party has nothing to do with ISIS.

''We condemn ISIS. We have no connection whatsoever with ISIS,'' Owaisi said.

However, he also warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to join international community's war against the ISIS.

''Modiji should not think of sending forces to fight ISIS. That is not our war,'' Owaisi said while addressing his supporters in the Faizabad district of UP.

Condemning PM Modi's recent Lahore visit, he said, ''The way PM met his counterpart in Lahore it was as if two separated brothers are meeting.''

This was his first rally in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad ahead of the February 13 Bikapur bypoll.

The AIMIM, which is planning to stake a huge claim in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls of 2017, is willing to create a “Dalit-Muslim vote bank”.

“My focus will be on Samajwadi Party which has betrayed both Dalits and Muslims,” the AIMIM chief had said earlier.

Owaisi’s party had made its agenda clear when it declared Pradeep Kumar Kori, a Dalit, as its Bikapur candidate for the upcoming bypolls here.