Ahead of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls, Asasuddin Owaisi on Saturday confirmed that his party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), will not be in alliance with the K. Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
While AIMIM and the TRS were traditionally seen as having good relations, Owaisi's decision to not participate in the polls along with the TRS may raise some eyebrows. The AIMIM chief on this day said that a TRS minister had falsely tried to paint a picture of Owaisi as being aligned with the BJP.
He said that Congress had also made similar allegations against the AIMIM, shortly after the Bihar poll results.
"There is a famous saying in Hyderabad — Garib Ki Joru sabki bhabi — this is the situation," a report quotes a 'shocked' Owaisi as saying.
The allegations against the AIMIM themselves seem to be pertaining to the party being a "vote-cutter" in recent legislative assembly elections across states. Several parties opposing the BJP, such as the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have alleged Owaisi's AIMIM of being the BJP's 'B-team', helping the saffron camp win by 'cutting' the 'secular votes'.
However, like most unfounded allegations peddled by several liberal-minded citizens, this claim, also, is not backed by data. In fact, poll statistics have proved to the contrary — showing that in most of the seats that the NDA won, the margin of victory was significantly more than the total votes polled by the AIMIM — thereby refuting the 'spoiler' argument at its core.
Meanwhile, hitting the campaign trail for the December 1 Hyderabad civic polls, the TRS on Saturday asked the BJP to show the people what work has the NDA government at the Centre done for the city in the last six years.
On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the TRS over "infrastructural inadequacies" in the city. These were witnessed during the recent heavy rains, the saffron party claimed.
The leaders of the TRS, BJP and Congress have begun an extensive campaign in the city ahead of polls to the 150-ward Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
The process of filing nominations came to a close on Friday.
