All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday challenged Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Hyderabad. Even if that were to happen, his party would win while the BJP would be unable to win even five seats, tweeted Owaisi. He represents the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency.
Owaisi’s remarks came after Shah said the BJP will contest all seats in Telangana and “emerge as a strong and decisive force in the state”. Earlier on Saturday, Shah kicked off the party’s election campaign in the state at a press conference in Hyderabad. He criticised Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for calling early elections in the state despite speaking in support of simultaneous elections earlier.
Alliance with Prakash Ambedkar’s outfit
Meanwhile, the AIMIM said it will tie up with the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, led by Prakash Ambedkar, for the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections next year, reported PTI.
“The formal structure of the alliance will be announced later,” said Owaisi. “Ambedkar ji will be holding a public rally in Aurangabad on October 2 in which I, too, will be present.”
The idea behind the alliance is to unite Dalits, Muslims, and the Other Backward Castes who have no proper representation in politics, said AIMIM legislator from Aurangabad, Imtiyaz Jaleel. Adding that parties only treat them as vote banks, he said, “It is a shame on all so-called secular parties that there is no representation from the Muslim community in Parliament from Maharashtra. Similar is the case for Dalits.”
BBM leader Haribhau Bhale said party leaders would decide on the shape of the alliance.
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