Asaduddin Owaisi.
Lucknow: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday, October 12, said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should contest the upcoming assembly elections from Sambhal, while Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav should contest from Gorakhpur.
While Sambhal is known to be a SP stronghold with a high percentage of Muslim voters, Adityanath has been a five-time MP from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency.
Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, Owaisi said, “The biggest issue in Ayodhya today is the embezzlement of funds at the Ram temple, which runs into thousands of crores of rupees. The accused currently in jail are talking about securing bail, while those who actually committed the theft are roaming freely.”
In an apparent reference to the recent war of words between Adityanath and Yadav over an electoral contest from Ayodhya, he said a ‘noora kushti’ (fake wrestling match) is going on there.
“That is why I said that Yogi Adityanath should contest the election from Sambhal. He should go to Sambhal and say, ‘We demolished your mosque, so vote for me (Adityanath). ‘ And, God willing, the public there will defeat him.”
“Meanwhile, Akhilesh should go and contest from Gorakhpur and declare, ‘I (Yadav) have made that person a Rajya Sabha poll candidate whose father defeated the INDIA bloc candidate in Jharkhand by poaching MLAs,” Owaisi said.
The assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are due in 2027.
Yadav on Sunday hit back at Adityanath over the latter’s dare to the SP chief to contest from the Ayodhya assembly constituency, saying the party’s candidate, Pawan Pandey, is enough to blow away the arrogance of the BJP government.
The SP chief’s remark came a day after Adityanath accepted Yadav’s challenge to file his nomination from Ayodhya for the upcoming assembly elections.
The Chief Minister currently represents the Gorakhpur Urban Assembly constituency in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
This post was last modified on October 12, 2026 9:01 pm