The Apna Dal (K) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Mulimeen (AIMIM) have tied up for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing a news conference jointly in Lucknow on Sunday, Pallavi Patel, vice-president of AP(K), and Asaduddin Owaisi, president of the AIMIM, said they would try to field as many candidates as possible for the 80 seats in the state.
“Our focus is on uniting the backwards, Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and Muslims and our alliance will continue beyond the Lok Sabha elections,” Patel said. Her mother and AP(K) president, Krishna Patel, was also present on the occasion.
“It is only a beginning in Uttar Pradesh which will continue in future elections,” Owaisi said.
Pallavi Patel is a Samajwadi Party MLA from Sirathu in Kaushami district. She contested on an SP ticket in 2022 although her party was already in existence. However, she decided to part ways with the SP because of disagreements with party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Sources said Patel wanted to field candidates from Phulpur, Mirzapur and Kaushambi, but Akhilesh had turned down the demand.
Political observers believe that the alliance of the AP(K) and the AIMIM may harm the SP because they bank on the same vote segments in the heartland state. The SP depends on Muslim and Other Backward Caste votes. The Apna Dal is a Kurmi (OBC)-based party and Owaisi targets the Muslim vote base.
Krishna had named her party AP(K) after a dispute with her younger daughter Anupriya Patel. Anupriya had allied the Apna Dal (Sonelal) with the BJP in 2014. Currently, she is minister of state for commerce and industries in the Narendra Modi government.