AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi to hold first rally in UP today

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi will hold his first rally in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad district ahead of the February 13 Bikapur bypoll.

Lucknow: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi will hold his first rally in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad ahead of the February 13 Bikapur bypoll.

The AIMIM leader, who is also Hyderabad MP, is likely to take on th ruling Samajwadi Party government in the state for neglecting the “poor and downtrodden”.

The party, which is planning to stake a huge claim in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls of 2017, will attempt to create a “Dalit-Muslim vote bank”.

Significantly, this is the first time Owaisi has been given permission to hold a rally in UP.

“My focus will be on Samajwadi Party which has betrayed both Dalits and Muslims,” the AIMIM chief said.

Owaisi’s party had made its agenda clear when it declared Pradeep Kumar Kori, a Dalit, as its Bikapur candidate for the upcoming bypolls.

Attacking SP and the BJP, he said, ''The Samajwadi Party gave riots to Muslims and is now silent on the death of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula (of Hyderabad University) and other Dalit issues, while the BJP claims itself to be the champion of Dalits just because it organises programmes and praises Dr Ambedkar”.