AIMIM and Owaisi - The party and its leader the BJP and Congress love to hate

HYDERABAD: Asaduddin Owaisi. They can’t live with him. They also cannot live without him.

That is the predicament that the BJP, the Congress, and the BRS find themselves in, in the fast heating up election atmosphere in Telangana. Love him or hate him but you can’t ignore him as the AIMIM party chief and the Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad, is the flavour of the season for the three main political contenders from the state.

At stake are the votes of the Muslim community, which were until a few months ago, more or less assured to go the BRS way, given that the AIMIM has always focused on constituencies in Hyderabad. It is most likely to retain the seven seats it holds in the city but not in the rest of the state. Owaisi, on his part, has so far refrained from any explicit announcement of spreading his party’s footprint in a serious manner in other districts of Telangana, but has left his options open saying that an appropriate decision will be taken at the right time.

For the BJP, the senior Owaisi, and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, have been the favourite targets over the years. With a guaranteed understanding that it can never attract Muslim votes, the BJP, led by Union home minister Amit Shah, had been attacking AIMIM and Owaisi at every opportunity, while at the same time, attempting to paint the BRS, led by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, a staunch AIMIM ally as things stand, with the same brush. The BJP has in the past never shied away from attacking Owaisi and his party, and with the state polls coming up there is a sense of urgency to step up these attacks.

According to BJP insiders, nothing is working for them ever since the Congress succeeded in taking its narrative to the people that BJP and BRS are together while pointing out lack of action against BRS MLC K. Kavitha, allegedly involved in the Delhi liquor scam. Having lost substantial ground as a result of this, the BJP concluded that the only way it can regain a semblance of electoral footing is if it lumps BRS, AIMIM and Congress together.

With September 17 being the Telangana Liberation Day, the BJP has stepped up attacks on AIMIM calling it a ‘descendant of the Razaakars’. For the BJP, Owaisi is someone it cannot live without, now that most surveys by different parties indicate that the anti-incumbency votes the BJP was banking on, have tilted towards the Congress

While the BJP’s intense dislike of Owaisi and AIMIM are understandable, given the BJP’s propensity to seek polarization of voters, Thursday’s trenchant attack on Owaisi by TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy came a surprise to many, given Congress’ past history of cavorting with the very same AIMIM. Reddy’s demands for an explanation from Owaisi of AIMIM’s ties with “a corrupt” Chandrashekar Rao and “stop using the city as his fiefdom” and even saying “there is another Nizam in Hyderabad. This time we will see who runs the city," being seen as an attempt to counter the BJP’s attempts to portray BRS and the Congress as one. With the AIMIM leadership declaring that it wants Rao to return to power, the Congress attempt is to show that it has nothing to do with either the BRS or the AIMIM.

As far as the AIMIM itself is concerned, it is not at all surprised that the party and Owaisi are the current flavour of the political season in Telangana.

The party line is that it is not perturbed by BJP’s attacks as it only wants to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims and consolidate its Hindu vote bank.

On Revanth’s attack, it believes Hyderabad is the engine for Telangana’s growth and since it is the AIMIM that has a stronghold in at least seven constituencies, it will be targeted, especially after Congress’ extremely poor showing in the last GHMC elections where it was all but wiped out winning a mere two city council seats while the BJP rose to 44 from nothing, and all of these coming courtesy of BRS party.

“Anyone can attack us for all they want but we are not going anywhere. If anything, the current situation only proves the presence and significance of the party,” an AIMIM leader said.