Hyderabad: Telangana Congress’ Muslim leaders upset with ‘friendship’ with AIMIM

Hyderabad: The new friendship between the Telangana Congress and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is causing some uneasiness among the Muslim leaders of the party. A section of them is upset with the Congress leadership for depending on AIMIM for Muslim votes and support instead of grooming Muslim leaders for the future. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has openly asked supporters to vote for the Congress. “When the Congress is in a bad shape there is no Muslim face in the party who can help garner minority votes. Keeping AIMIM with us means that the Muslim leadership in the party will not grow,” said a senior Congress Muslim leader from Hyderabad. He said that even bringing AIMIM to campaign for the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections did not help the party much. “In fact, in some seats, because Owaisi openly asked Muslims to vote for the Congress, it backfired as it consolidated Hindu votes towards the BJP. Everyone knows that AIMIM’s influence outside Hyderabad is limited, so we did not need Owaisi. The state leadership is aware of this, but still they wanted AIMIM’s help,” the Congress leader told Siasat.com.

The Congress and AIMIM have started showing signs of rebuilding bridges that were burnt after Owaisi severed all ties with the grand old party in 2012. He has been its bitter critic since then and after the formation of Telangana in 2014, he found a new friend in Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR). In the 2023 state elections too, Owaisi asked Muslims to vote for KCR. However, after the party won the Telangana assembly elections, it became clear that the Congress did not want to be in an adversarial position with the AIMIM. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who is on a visit to London, shared pictures of AIMIM Chandrayangutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, indicating that the two parties are on good terms. This was followed by his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi asking Muslims to vote for the Congress during his last campaign rally for the Lok Sabha elections, which surprised many. Another Muslim leader of the Congress said, “They can use AIMIM if needed, but openly forming formal ties with them will only help the BJP. Besides, it is clear that the party wants Muslim votes, but not Muslim leaders. The high command should take note of all this.” He said the party’s minority cell has also been shut since last year. In the Lok Sabha elections, both the Congress and the BJP won 8 seats each out of 17. The AIMIM retained the Hyderabad constituency, which it has been winning since 1984. The results were not the best for the Congress, as it is in power in Telangana and was hoping to perform better. The BRS did not win a single seat, as many had expected.