AIMIM to contest municipal polls across Uttar Pradesh, says party's state chief

Hyderabad (Telangana) August 18 (ANI): All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Thursday announced that the party would contest municipal elections across Uttar Pradesh.
AIMIM UP president Shaukat Ali Khan said, "We were called for the meeting. Our state's four zonal presidents have also come, so there was a meeting held for two hours at Asaduddin Owaisi's residence. Whatever the instructions given to us will be followed and will work on it. Soon we will announce the candidate for Chairman, Panchayat Raj and other posts in UP".
Pointing out the incompetence of some party leaders during the state legislative elections in 2022, Shaukat Ali Khan said, "We lost in the Assembly election. There was a time when the BJP wouldn't get a deposits back and today we can see BJP, where it is. So it will take some time, we had a few weaknesses and few people at the party hadn't worked sincerely. This time we will place candidates in all the constituencies."
He further said that the Assembly elections that were held early this year were not just a tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) but AIMIM was also contesting the elections equally.
Hitting out at Samajwadi Party, Khan claimed that SP is against the Muslims and is a reason behind the backwardness of Muslims in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
"Samajwadi is not against us but they are against Muslims. If Muslims are in a backward position in UP and Bihar then it's because of Samajwadi. AIMIM might have lost the assembly election but not the spirit, but will fight stronger and this time we will win more seats than last time. We will fight the election in the whole state from Ghaziabad to Ghazipur," he said.
The municipal polls are likely to be held in UP later this year. (ANI)