Anti-incumbency factor will hit parties joining hands with Samajwadi Party, says AIMIM chief Owaisi

Hyderabad: Amid speculation about a "maha-gathbandhan' (grand alliance) in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi has said parties joining hands with the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) would be weighed down by anti-incumbency and other factors.

Owaisi, whose party has made no secret of its desire to make an electoral impact in Uttar Pradesh Assembly election due early next year, sought to point out feud in the ruling (Mulayam) Yadav family, saying: "Uncle (SP's UP unit chief Shivpal Yadav) and nephew (Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav), their heart and mind are not together".

Secondly, the Hyderabad Lok Sabha member said there is a huge anti-incumbency against the Samajwadi Party for many reasons -- for not stopping communal riots, for not fulfilling their promises and only working for the one Yadav Parivar.

"So, whatever gathbandhan, they (parties joining forces with SP) carry anti-incumbency of Samajwadi Party. Moreover, uncle and nephew are at loggerheads, they are grabbing each other's throats in full public view," Owaisi told PTI.

"When all these leaders of different parties are sitting (at SP silver jubilee festivities), they (Shivpal and Akhilesh) are not letting opportunity to go at each other," he said.

"Fact of the matter is Samajwadi Party has failed in governance, failed in fulfilling promises; they only work for their Yadav Parivar, they have not stopped corruption, they have not stopped communal riots and people of Uttar Pradesh are tired of Samajwadi Party," Owaisi said.

Owaisi, who had addressed a few public meetings in Uttar Pradesh in recent times, hinted at the possibility of his party striking electoral alliances. "Our local (UP) state President Shaukat Ali is in talks with some people", he said.

Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishore met SP supremo Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav separately recently fuelling speculation that a grand alliance -- among erstwhile Janata Parivar parties and Congress -- could be on the cards for the Assembly election.