Owaisi kickstarts 2017 UP poll campaign

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi today kickstarted his UP Assembly poll campaign from Kairana in neighbouring Shamli district here.
Owaisi, who is known for his controversial statements, hit out at the popular political players in the state, especially the ruling Samajwadi Party for "advocating about the rights of minorities only during elections".
"All parties in Uttar Pradesh have looked at the minorities, backward classes and the deprived sections as vote banks," he said at an election rally here.
In an apparent dig at the ruling party, he said, "How can a party which is fighting its own family fight for us?"

"The Mulayam Singh Yadav-led party does not want AIMIM in the state as we have been raising the issues of minorities while SP only looks at them as vote banks," he said.
The Hyderabad-based leader remarked that the parties were trying to win the minority votes by instilling the fear of "BJP wave".

"Parties are employing various ways to win the confidence and votes of minorities. But are these leading to minority upliftment?," he asked.
Owaisi exhorted people to vote for AIMIM and "make their voices heard".
The party has released a list of 11 candidates, including Masiulla from Kairana constituency, for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

The state polls are slated for earlier this year.