Asaduddin Owaisi, MP President of the Majlis Ittehadul Musalmeen ( MIM) is likely to campaign for his party candidate in Bikapur assembly seat in faizabad district going to by poll on February 13. The Hyderabad based muslim political outfit MIM is contesting only one of three assembly seats going to by poll. The other two seats are Muzaffarnagar and Deoband.
Shaukat Ali, state president of the MIM said that Owaisi is likely to visit UP in second week of February. ``He is presently busy in the elections of Hyderabad Municipal corporation and election of Mayor is scheduled to be held on February 6, after that he may come any day’’, said MIM leader.
MIM has fielded a dalit community candidate for the by election in Bikapur assembly seat. The MIM candidate a dalit youth Pradeep Kumar from the Kori community who is also the president of UP Kori Samaj.This would be the first major electoral foray of the MIM in UP. In 2015 the MIM had won couple of seats of member district panchyat in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut district.
Bikapur has been traditional stronghold of the ruling Samajwadi Party and the muslims of this constituency had been the loyal voter of the party. By election to this seat is being held due to the death of the Samajwadi Party MlA Mitresen Yadav. The SP has fielded his son Anandsen Yadav, who is the former minister in the Mayawati led bahujan Samaj party government in 2007.
The MIM by fielding a dalit candidate ahead of the next state assembly elections in 2017 wants to test the strength of its social coalition of Dalit- Muslim in Bikarpur seat. Several teams of the MIM leaders from Hyderabad are campaign in Faizabad, MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi is expected to this constituency and addresses several whistle stop meetings in the first week of February. Polling in Bikapur will be held on February 13.
The state president of MIM Shakut Ali said the party is focusing on its traditional voters the muslims. `` There are over One lakh muslim voters in Bikapur seat and around the same number of dalit voters. We know a tough task is ahead for us here to convince the muslim voters to vote for us as they had been traditionally voting the Samajwadi party for the last over two decades’’, said Shakut Ali.
The MIM stepped out of its traditional base of Hyderabad –now in Telangana in October 2014 when it contested the state assembly elections in Maharashtra. The MIM could win only two seats in the state but significantly dented the muslim vote base of the Congress and Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party and facilitating the victory of the BJP and Shiv Sena candidates.
For the last over two years MIM is desperate to find a foot hold in UP. Its attempt have so far been foiled by the Samajwadi party led state government and its president was not given permission by the district administration of Azamgarh, Allahabad and Agra to address the public meetings by Asaduddin Owaisi. The MIM had also contested the state assembly election in Bihar in October last and fielded its candidates from the muslim dominated constituencies. The party however drew blank thus bringing relief for the Samajwadi Party.
To fight the Samajwadi party in UP Asaduddin Owaisi had given a very aggressive slogan asking the muslim that he candidate from the community should be their first choice. He had coined the slogan "Pahle Bhai, Phir BJP harai, Uske Baad Sapai (first the brother muslims, then the candidate who can defeat the BJP, then Samajwadi party).The Samajwadi party has been the first or the preferred choice for the muslims for the last over two decades. The Hyderabad based MIM led by Asaduddin Owasi, MP, is now asking the muslims to make SP their third choice.