UP polls 2022: Will Akhilesh Yadav appoint Muslim deputy CM if SP wins UP Assembly election? asks AIMIM chief Asaddudin Owaisi

AIMIM chief Asaddudin Owaisi said his party will contest 100 seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, adding that AIMIM is open to forming an alliance while addressing a public rally in Kanpur on Sunday.

Zee News file pic

New Delhi: AIMIM chief Asaddudin Owaisi has asked Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav if he would appoint a Muslim for the post of deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in case his party wins the state Assembly polls. 

Owaisi said, "Do not care who will be Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. If Samajwadi Party wins the UP polls, will its chief Akhilesh Yadav appoint a Muslim Deputy CM?"

Addressing a public rally in Kanpur on Sunday, the AIMIM chief said his party will contest 100 seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, adding that AIMIM is open to forming an alliance.

Owaisi further said, "My Masjid (Babri) was demolished. People who demolished it, disrupted the foundation of India and the rule of law...Did anyone from SP, BSP or Congress say anything? They turned a blind eye as my Masjid was demolished but not theirs."

Emphasizing Muslims` representation in the government and policymaking, Owaisi said, "Yadavs formed Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh`s government. Dalits made Mayawati the chief minister. Thakur and Brahmins have formed the current BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. It will no more be decided by touts that where Muslims will cast their votes."

"I tell the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh that they do not need to be afraid and if the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh want to move forward, then no one will be able to stop them," he added.

BJP MLA, expelled BSP legislator join Samajwadi Party

The Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, Digvijay Narayan Chaubey, expelled BSP MLA Vinay Shanker Tiwari and former MP Kushal Tiwari joined Samajwadi Party in presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Sunday. 

Addressing a press conference, Akhilesh Yadav said, "If the Samajwadi government is formed, then work will be done here to conduct all those examinations whose papers have been leaked and work will be done to give all the jobs which have not been given."

"Today BJP wants to rule by intimidating and killing people as the British did. In the coming times, the public will work to teach a lesson to the BJP. Nowadays, CM is giving advertisements for giving tablets, smartphones in the newspapers. Which tablet were you (BJP government) giving for four and a half years?" the former chief minister asked.

Earlier, Mukhtar Ansari`s elder brother Sigbatullah Ansari and former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Ambika Chaudhary had joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in August.

Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh is due for early next year. In the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP bagged 312 seats out of the 403-seat UP Assembly while Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) won 19 and Congress could manage to win only seven seats. The rest of the seats were bagged by other candidates.

(With Agency Inputs)