All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) supremo and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has a question which his party’s former ally, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), has not yet answered.
The AIMIM’s decision is expected to bring some cheer to the Congress, as the constituency has a sizeable Muslim population of one lakh voters.
It will be the first time in 10 years that the AIMIM and the Congress are on the same side. The party used to support the Congress before the formation of Telangana, severing ties with the grand old party after the BRS captured power in the 2014 Assembly elections.
“We supported the BRS (externally) because we believed that the party would keep a check on the BJP. We believed that the BRS’s rise would prevent the BJP from garnering strength and support,” Owaisi said, adding the BRS could not keep its end of the bargain.
In the Lok Sabha polls last year, for example, the BRS fared poorly, particularly in Secunderabad, which the Jubilee Hills seat is a part of, with BJP leader G Kishan Reddy ending up winning from the seat. “In the seven Assembly segments in the constituency, the BRS directly contributed to the rise of the BJP,” Owaisi claimed.
The AIMIM chief also criticised the BRS for not taking up development works in the constituency. The BRS’s Maganti Gopinath, who represented the seat till his demise, did not bring basic amenities to the four lakh people in the constituency, Owaisi alleged.
With the AIMIM not fielding a candidate and backing the Congress, Naveen Yadav is now facing the BRS’s Maganti Sunitha, and the BJP’s Lankala Deepak Reddy. Owaisi also reasoned that the AIMIM’s support for Yadav does not harm the party in any way because the bypoll “will not result in a power change in the state”, comparing it to Bihar. In Bihar, incidentally, Owaisi’s party fielded its own candidates after its offer of an alliance was ignored by the Mahagathbandhan coalition.
While the distinction remains, the Hyderabad MP did not rule out an alliance on his home turf with the Congress in the next Assembly and parliamentary elections. “We’ll see about the next elections whether there should be an alliance or not,” he said, keeping his cards close to his chest.
