UP assembly polls: Yogi Adityanath accepts Owaisi's 'challenge', says BJP will win over 300 seats

Referring to All India Majlis-e-Ittahadul Muslimeen's stake to contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accepts AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi's "challenge". Putting his own two cents on the matter, CM Yogi said that there is "no doubt" that the BJP will form government in the state after winning "more than 300 seats" in the assembly polls next year.

"Asaduddin Owaisi is a big leader of our nation. If he has challenged BJP for the 2022 Assembly elections, then BJP's worker accepts his Asaduddin Owaisi challenge," Yogi told news agency ANI in an interview. "There is no doubt that BJP will form government in Uttar Pradesh in 2022."

For context, the road to election campaigning has picked up in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly polls next year. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi had said last month that his party will field candidates on as many as 100 seats in the state for the 2022 assembly elections. Owaisi's party is set to contest the elections along with the Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and other smaller parties, under the alliance banner of Sankalp Morcha.

Notably, BJP won 67 out of the 75 district panchayat chairperson seats in the recently conducted Uttar Pradesh Zila Panchayat elections. The party's win has strengthened the confidence of its members ahead of the state assembly elections. Yogi Adityanath on Saturday thanked all the BJP party workers in the state and vowed to win the 2022 assembly polls in a similar fashion. "We will win more than 300 seats," the UP CM was quoted as saying.

Shortly after the UP zila panchayat elections were out, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the party's state unit for the victory and recognised Yogi Adityanath as the key figure behind the party's spectacular performance. He also said that the results were a blessing given by the people for development, public service, and rule of law.

Acknowledging the Prime Minister's comments, UP CM Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday that the BJP's "fruitful results" in the UP zila panchayat polls were a result of the guidance of PM Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah. "BJP won the 2014 General elections, 2017 Assembly elections, 2019 Lok Sabha elections and will claim victory in the 2022 Assembly elections," he said.