Hours after the schedule for legislative assembly elections-2023 in five states was released, Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday said that his party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), had decided to field candidates in Rajasthan Assembly elections and hoped that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chadrashekar Rao would emerge victorious for the third time.
Speaking to the media at AIMIM headquarters in Darussalaam, Mr Owaisi said that while every state has different issues to deal with, the party, in both Telangana and Rajasthan, would strive to work for fostering leadership from the minority and Dalit communities.
“There is one certain commonality between Telangana and Rajasthan. That is political leadership of minority communities and Dalits should have a voice so that there is political empowerment and that brings about social justice. And that they get their share in development, and education,” Mr Owaisi said.
Mr Owaisi said that while three candidates from Rajasthan have already been announced, the AIMIM would soon make public candidates who would contest the Telangana assembly elections. He expressed confidence that given that his party has always been among the people throughout the year, the public would take this into consideration and help to make the party victorious.
Touching upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that the Telangana CM KCR expressed interest in joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Mr Owaisi sought to poke holes in the narrative. “Why are you not saying that the PM said KCR gave money to Congress in Karnataka,” Owaisi said. He added, “The PM said on the one hand “he (KCR) came and met me”, and on the other hand said he (KCR) gave money to the Congress. PM should hold on to one statement.”
Continuing his criticism of the Congress, Mr Owaisi said that the Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy has links to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. “In the 1999 assembly elections, when the late Syed Sajjad was contesting, Kishan Reddy was the BJP candidate. I saw him (Revanth Reddy) with Kishan Reddy with my own eyes working for the BJP. I saw him on two different occasions,” he said, and claimed that the Congress chief in Telangana was speaking in the language of Hindutva ideologues likes M. S. Golwalkar and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
Speaking about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mr Owaisi described Israel as the oppressors and Gaza as an open air prison. He quoted a speech of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who reportedly expressed his support for Palestine. “India had released a postal stamp expressing solidarity for Palestine. Our policy since the beginning has been that of support to Palestine,” he said even as he cited the Oslo Accords. “You have to understand that illegal settlements are being made, which are against the Oslo Accords.”
