Lucknow: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday signalled his willingness to enter into an alliance for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections to defeat the BJP, but stopped short of naming a potential partner, setting off speculation over whether his outreach is aimed at the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Hours after launching AIMIM's election campaign from Bahraich and announcing the party's first candidate, Owaisi said his party was ready for an alliance provided it was treated with "respect and equality."
"We are ready for an alliance to stop the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, but we should be treated with dignity and given an equal status. AIMIM will fight the Assembly elections with full strength. Our state president Shaukat Ali and party workers have worked hard on the ground," Owaisi told reporters in Lucknow.
When asked whether Muslim voters were firmly behind the Samajwadi Party, Owaisi dismissed the suggestion.
"No community belongs to any political party. AIMIM has emerged as a strong political force. Those making such claims will soon realise the reality," he said.
The remarks came a day after Owaisi addressed a public meeting in Bahraich, marking AIMIM's first major political mobilisation for the 2027 Assembly elections. He also announced Uttar Pradesh AIMIM president Shaukat Ali as the party's candidate from the Muslim-dominated Matera Assembly constituency.
Addressing the rally, Owaisi said the time had come to move beyond symbolic politics.
"We will no longer spread carpets for others. We will now talk about participation and equality. Everyone knows on whose homes bulldozers are run wherever the BJP is in power," he said.
The choice of Bahraich is politically significant. The district has one of the highest concentrations of Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh, with Muslims accounting for nearly 45 per cent of the population in several Assembly segments. Political observers believe Owaisi's decision to begin his campaign from the district is aimed at making inroads into the Samajwadi Party's traditional Muslim support base.
The rally assumes added significance because the Samajwadi Party has been banking on its PDA, or Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak, social coalition that played a key role in its improved performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Even a marginal shift in Muslim votes could affect outcomes in closely fought constituencies.
Responding to Owaisi's remarks, senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav said the party was prepared to join hands with any political force committed to defeating the BJP.
"We are ready to align with anyone whose objective is to defeat the BJP," Yadav said, without directly responding to whether the Samajwadi Party would consider an alliance with AIMIM.
Although AIMIM has not won an Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh so far, it has steadily expanded its electoral presence. The party contested 38 seats in the 2017 Assembly elections and increased that number to 97 in 2022. Its vote share also doubled from 0.24 per cent in 2017 to 0.48 per cent in 2022.
While the numbers remain modest, political analysts say even a small division of Muslim votes could prove decisive in several constituencies where victory margins are narrow. Owaisi's decision to begin his campaign from Bahraich is therefore being seen as an early attempt to test AIMIM's electoral strength and potentially reshape opposition politics ahead of the high-stakes 2027 Assembly elections.
