Lucknow: Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has dismissed All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi’s claim of contesting 100 seats in the 2022 UP assembly elections.
Owaisi had claimed two days ago that his party would contest these seats as a part of the ‘Bhagidari Morcha’ formed by Rajbhar.
“There have been no talks of seat sharing with the AIMIM. The ‘Bhagidari Morcha’ will hold discussions on it in the days to come after assessing their preparedness to take on the BJP in the UP assembly polls,” said Rajbhar.
Rajbhar added that the AIMIM leadership had only expressed its willingness to contest on 100 seats but no seat sharing formula has been finalized.
The SBSP chief said that the Morcha formed under his leadership would contest all 403 assembly seats in next year’s state polls.
“But for that, the partners need to spruce up their organizational ranks for the high-stake political contest. This election is extremely crucial and we cannot afford any slip-ups,” he said.
The AIMIM, which contested 38 seats in the 2017 assembly elections, could not win a single seat and managed to garner only a 0.2 per cent vote share.
The SBSP, on the other hand, had allied with the BJP to contest on eight seats. The Rajbhar dominated political outfit won four seats while bagging a vote share of 0.7 per cent, which was significantly higher in comparison to the AIMIM.
Rajbhar has been reaching out to various political opponents of the BJP including the AIMIM, the Krishna Patel-led Apna Dal and the Jan Adhikar Manch led by former minister Babu Singh Kushwaha to form a political front which could potentially emerge as a political force.
Rajbhar has also held a series of meetings with the Aam Aadmi Party in recent months though there has been no affirmation of an alliance by either side.