Hyderabad: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) congratulated the Congress for its victory in the Telangana Assembly elections, and wished that the new government will continue to take Telangana on the path of development, and ensure peace and tranquility in the state.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, speaking to reporters on Monday at the party headquarters Darussalam, however, shot an arrow at Congress, declaring that his party would “aggressively hold the government accountable” to its promises.
To a question on whether the AIMIM could, at some point of time, ally with the Congress, Owaisi said it was too early and ended his response by saying that for now there were no such plans. “What might happen in the future, we cannot say anything now,” he added.
Owaisi, however, made it clear that “KCR and KTR are friends and I spoke with KTR for a long time yesterday and told him that winning and losing are part of the electoral process and not to lose heart over the outcome. I also tried to speak with KCR but could not, and I plan to go and meet with him.”
On his party’s performance, Owaisi said he thanked the people for voting for the MIM in the nine constituencies it contested from, of which it won seven. He also said his party would review and take stock on the low voter turnout, and the reasons for close contests, particularly in Yakutpura where MIM candidate Jaffar Hussain won with a wafer-thin margin of 878 votes.
He said while MIM won from the seven seats it held in the outgoing Assembly, the BRS’ success in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district was also because of the AIMIM campaign asking people to support the BRS.
On who could be the next Chief Minister from the Congress, he said it was a matter for the Congress to decide on its leader but “if you ask me who could be the next CM, then it could be Akbaruddin Owaisi, Zulfequar Ali, any of our MLAs can be the CM, and they are capable of holding the position.”
Owaisi said “we will continue with our struggle to strengthen the party and ensure development works taken up in constituencies where the MIM won are taken to their logical end. We will also seek fresh development and work for keeping promises we made during the campaign such as getting a junior college in Vikarabad. Our MLAs will be forthright as before, and will talk boldly about issues of people of Telangana.”
