Owaisi brothers, Hardik Patel threat to smaller parties in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: The fear of Owaisi brothers and Hardik Patel has started troubling not only the major political players in Uttar Pradesh, like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, but also smaller political outfits that survive on caste politics.

The political debut of the Owaisi brothers, who head the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), has apparently rattled the Peace Party, led by Dr Ayub.

Dr Ayub, through a sustained campaign, had been positioning himself as a “Muslim leader of the Muslim community” and had built up a base for his party that won four seats in the 2012 Assembly elections. Though the Peace Party disintegrated inside the state Assembly with three members revolting against Dr Ayub, the party maintained its stand outside.

The advent of the Owaisi brothers, however, has unnerved the Peace Party that sees a major challenge from the AIMIM. A sources in the party disclosed that the Peace Party leadership was “worried” about facing he “Owaisi storm”.

“Apart from having a large following — thanks to their exposure on television — the AIMIM is not short of funds either which will make their contesting elections easy.

Besides, Muslims in UP who are still nursing the wounds of a series of communal riots over the past three years are bound to veer towards the Owaisi brothers who are known for their hard-hitting speeches.

The Samajwadi Party and the BSP are already drafting strategies to face the Owaisi challenge and the SP, in particular, is trying to hold on to the Muslim vote bank for the next Assembly elections.

The young emerging leader, Hardik Patel, on the other hand, is giving sleepless nights not only to the BJP but also to the fledgling Apna Dal that commands the support of Patels and Kurmis in the state.

“If Hardik Patel makes a foray in UP, it is the Apna Dal that will be hit the worst. The party which has split into two factions is essentially a Kurmi-based outfit and it was mainly on the strength of Kurmi votes that the party won two seats in the Lok Sabha elections last year. However, the party, since the past one year, has been grappling with factionalism and leadership issues and has not done anything for the Kurmi community. In such a situation, Hardik Patel can attract a sizeable section of Kurmi voters in the state and make a dent in the Apna Dal’s support base,” said a former Apna Dal leader.