HYDERABAD: The AIMIM appears to be in no mood to upset “friendly ally” BRS by expanding its electoral battle beyond the capital city of Hyderabad and forcing a division in the secular vote.
Describing the Majlis as a friendly ally, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday announced his support to Mirza Rahmath Baig, the former’s candidate, for the Hyderabad local bodies constituency in the Legislative Council.
What comes as a surprise is that Baig, who lost the 2018 Assembly polls from Rajendranagar, was considered as a strong contender this time but the MIM took him out of the fray leaving room for speculation that the party might restrict itself to the seven seats which it holds.
“It is too early to say that we will be restricting (ourselves) to seven seats but the recent threat of floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi to field party candidates in 50 Assembly segments shall not be taken seriously,” a senior party leader said. There is a demand from the cadre to achieve double digit seats in the next elections, he added.
The AIMIM under the leadership of Asaduddin Owaisi, has remarkably expanded in other states and in several elections the party had upset the winning chances of anti-BJP forces, predominantly the Congress. Though the Opposition parties tried to dub his party as the B team of the BJP, Owaisi hit back holding the Congress’ dismal performance and poor leadership responsible for the growth of saffron brigade. He defended the MIM’s attempts to fill the vacuum and grow as a strong minority voice.
However, all eyes are on MIM’s expansion plans in its home state of Telangana and questions were posed to Owaisi on how the party would defend restricting itself to the Old City while contesting in other states. Sources close to Owaisi told Deccan Chronicle that he would be very cautious in taking a final call on fielding party candidates beyond Hyderabad as the last thing the party would wish for is the replacement of the BRS government with that of the BJP.
“We are not worried about the narrative on not going beyond Hyderabad. If you take the proportion of the seats we contested to the total seats in other states, the same will reflect in Telangana with seven or eight seats,” sources close to the MIM supremo pointed out.
At the same time there is pressure from cadre from places like Jubilee Hills, Rajendranagar, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Zaheerabad to contest from these seats to win and if need be strike an open deal with the BRS. “We have to make a cautious move,” said sources in the party.
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