AIMIM Faces Setback Ahead of UP Polls as National Spokesperson Asim Waqar Set to Join Congress

Dil Bar Irshad | September 1, 2026 | 10:09 PM IST | Breaking News, India, Politics | Follow on Google News

AIMIM Faces Setback Ahead of UP Polls as National Spokesperson Asim Waqar Set to Join Congress

Looks like Asaduddin Owaisi might face a roadblock as his AIMIM tries to establish its foothold in Uttar Pradesh. Word on the street is that party’s national spokesperson, Syed Asim Waqar, is looking to make a move to the Congress, right before the crucial 2027 Assembly polls.

Sources are buzzing that Waqar is planning to join the Congress in New Delhi this coming Wednesday. He’s been with AIMIM for about ten years, making his face quite familiar in the state’s political arena.

Though Waqar hasn’t confirmed or denied these rumors, if they turn out to be true, it’ll be a significant development for Owaisi. He’s been hard at work shoring up the party’s presence in Uttar Pradesh, attempting to shed AIMIM’s “vote-cutter” image that’s haunted it for so long.

There have been rumblings of Waqar being unhappy for a while about certain decisions within the AIMIM’s Uttar Pradesh wing. Interestingly, prior to joining Owaisi, Waqar had a two-decade stint with the Samajwadi Party.

It appears that Imran Pratapgarhi, who heads Congress’s Minority Cell and is a Rajya Sabha MP, is a key player in Waqar’s potential switch.

This could have some serious political ramifications in UP, where the Congress and Samajwadi Party are allies. Although the finer details of seat-sharing for the 2027 polls are yet to be ironed out, adding prominent leaders to their ranks could give the Congress more leverage.

The grapevine also has it that Congress is in talks with Kaushal Kishore. He’s a former Lok Sabha MP from Mohanlalganj and previously served as a Union Minister of State in the BJP government.

As of now, Owaisi hasn’t stated exactly how many seats AIMIM will contest in the 2027 UP polls, but he has confidently declared that the party will participate and aims for victories.

“Our party hasn’t ironed out the number of seats yet,” Owaisi told IANS recently, adding that AIMIM’s organizational base has strengthened. He also claims that public support has surged for the party and pointed to AIMIM’s performance in the Bihar elections as a testament to its potential as a viable alternative in politics.

He even went so far as to predict that, “Many MLAs from the AIMIM party will be successful in the upcoming Assembly elections.”

Considering all this, the reported departure of Waqar – a senior, long-time spokesperson for the party – comes at a particularly pivotal moment for Owaisi as he tries to establish AIMIM as a stronger electoral force in Uttar Pradesh.

Dil Bar Irshad

Dil Bar Irshad is a seasoned journalist, hails from Jammu Kashmir's Doda, covers political, social, business stories, index stories.