Hyderabad: The AIMIM will decide about contesting more seats in the Telangana assembly elections “when the right time comes”, party chief Asaduddin Owaisi clarified Wednesday, suggesting a rethink in the party about fielding candidates on a higher number of seats which might put it at odds with the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
The AIMIM and BRS, though not in a formal alliance, share a friendly relationship. But if the AIMIM contests on more seats in the state polls — which are due later this year — it might split the minority votes, dent the BRS vote share, and end up benefitting the BRS’s main rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Hyderabad MP Owaisi’s statement comes days after his brother, Chandrayangutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, said he would make sure the AIMIM contests on 50 seats in the 119-member assembly and doubles its strength. The AIMIM currently has 7 MLAs in Telangana, while the BRS has 104 and the BJP, 2.
Akbaruddin’s statement hadn’t gone down well with the BRS.
“If the AIMIM decides to contest on more seats, it would mean that the party wants to help the BJP,” a senior BRS leader told ThePrint Tuesday.
“We are not concerned, though. The government of (BRS chief and Telangana CM) K Chandrashekar Rao has done so much for the minorities that any such move (by the AIMIM) would alienate Muslims from the AIMIM. Owaisi has to factor this in, although we believe he hasn’t decided anything so far,” the leader added.
In the previous Telangana elections in 2018, the AIMIM had fielded candidates on eight seats only, while in 2014, the year the state was formed, it had fielded candidates on as many as 35 constituencies (across parts of Seemandhra and Telangana) but won only seven, which it retained in 2018.
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‘We’re ready for elections’
According to the 2011 Census, the Muslim population in Telangana is 12.7 per cent.
Hyderabad, especially the older parts of the city, is where the majority of Muslims reside, while districts such as Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, as well as parts of north Telangana such as Bhainsa, also have a sizable chunk of Muslim voters.
All seven constituencies that the AIMIM represents in the assembly are in the older parts of Hyderabad which have a strong Muslim population. The party has also held the Lok Sabha seat for the Hyderabad constituency since 1984.
The BRS, on its part, has always fielded “weak candidates” in AIMIM-dominated constituencies. For instance, in Akbaruddin’s constituency of Chandrayangutta, the BRS candidate in 2018 was M Seetha Ram Reddy who polled just 10 per cent of the votes.
Earlier this month, on 4 February, Akbaruddin had said in the state assembly, in response to BRS minister KT Rama Rao’s dig that “the AIMIM is only a party of seven”: “I have taken very serious note of the comment passed on AIMIM. I will talk to my party president to see whether we can contest in more seats in the coming elections. We will make sure we come here with at least 15 MLAs by contesting on 50 seats. I hope to make our chief agree to my plan of getting more MLAs instead of seven.”
“And then we’ll work together once again with the BRS,” he added.
Referring to his brother, Owaisi told the media Wednesday: “Akbaruddin Owaisi said the party will decide about this (to contest more seats). Now is not the time yet to decide on how many seats we will contest, (and) what are those seats. When the right time comes, we will make the right decision. I will tell you when the time comes.”
“We’re ready for elections. But whether we’re contesting on more seats or not – we will decide. Let the right time come…. there are a lot of parties here… every political party wants to strengthen itself. What’s wrong in that?” he added.
‘I will always respect KCR’
Reacting to speculation of coldness between the AIMIM and BRS, Owaisi praised Rao’s governance.
“I will always respect KCR and one must accept that his government has done good work in the state in the IT sector, as well as in solving drinking water issues. People have seen it. Recently, I met KCR in the assembly,” he said Wednesday.
Apart from Telangana, the AIMIM has contested polls in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bengal and Tamil Nadu, but without much success. It has also frequently fielded allegations of being the “B-team” of the BJP.
In Telangana, the AIMIM has always shared an amicable relationship, rather an informal alliance, with the BRS since the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh.
For instance, when KCR’s party failed to win the required numbers in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls in 2021, amid stiff competition from the BJP, it was AIMIM that came to the ruling party’s rescue. With Owaisi’s support, the BRS won the mayor and deputy mayor posts.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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