Asad Owaisi set for hat-trick
The election campaign in the prestigious Hyderabad lok Sabha constituency and seven Assembly segments under it has reached a frenzied pitch where the lone Muslim MP of Andhra Pradesh and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi appears to be comfortably placed.
To the distinct advantage of london-educated lawyer Asaduddin, his political adversaries are divided, fighting for the smaller piece of the pie while an overwhelming majority of the electorate continues to stand with the traditionally strong MIM in the city.
Unlike 2009, when Asaduddin Owaisi had won the seat by a margin of 1.15 lakh votes defeating Zahed Ali Khan of the Telugu Desam Party while BJP came third, the MIM is now facing a bit stronger challenge as BJP and TDP have entered the fray as alliance and BJP has fielded a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader J Bhagwant Rao as its candidates which has the backing of the TDP.
However the lighter way in which the TDP and BJP leaders were treating this contest suggests that they have conceded the defeat even before the polling.
This is both the result of the election history of the past three decades as well as the demographic reality. In a hundred per cent urban constituency, spread over seven Assembly segments of Charminar, Bahadurpura, Karwan, Chandrayangutta, Yakutpura, Malakpet and Goshamahal, Muslims constitute an overwhelming 60 per cent of the total 18.21 lakh voters.
The total 16 candidates in the fray include Sama Krishan Reddy (Congress) and Rasheed Shareef (Telangana Rashtra Samiti). Aam Aadmi Party has fielded a Muslim woman lubna Sarwat. However Owaisi was dismissive of the challenge.
“For the people of Hyderabad, Majlis is a tried and tested party which has always stood by them in the thick and thin,” said Asad Owaisi why other parties have failed to breach the MIM citadel.
“The MIM has won Hyderabad because of its developmental work and service to the people,” he said. At the same time the party cannot mobilise the support of the minority community by targeting the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi as a “threat to secularism and minorities”.
At the same time the MIM also reaffirmed its hold over the city of Hyderabad by winning seven Assembly seats, six of them in Hyderabad lok Sabha constituency. The Congress bagged only Goshamahal, where the MIM had not fielded its candidate. This was the best ever performance by the MIM in the Assembly since it made its debut in 1962.
Hyderabad lok Sabha seat has been with the Majlis for the last 30 years, ever since the party patriarch Salahuddin Owaisi had wrested it from the Congress in 1984.
After winning the seats six times, senior Owaisi retired giving way to his elder son Asauddin who won it twice in 2004 and 2009.
Despite the best efforts the BJP has not been able to break the hold of MIM. Apart from Baddam Bal Reddy, who lost thrice, BJP’s national leader M Venkaiah Naidu was also defeated in 1996.
Till 2008 Hyderabad lok Sabha constituency was a mix of urban and rural areas as it included three rural segments of Viqarabad, Tandur and Chevella. At the time Hyderabad had about 40 per cent minority vote. However, after the re-drawing of the constituency map, the minority percentage went up to 60 per cent and the MIM increased its margin of victory.
Apart from the traditional methods of road corner meetings and big public meetings, the MIM campaign relies on the door-to-door campaign and public contact programmes during which the party’s lS and Assembly candidates undertake extensive walk through the lanes and bylanes of the old city.
This time in a bid to make inroads into the other communities, the MIM has also fielded a good number of non-Muslim candidates in Assembly and lok Sabha elections. Asaduddin Owaisi’s speeches were replete with the slogans of “Muslim Dalit” political alliance to ensure justice for all.
At the same time, this MIM was facing some tough challenge from its old rival Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) in at least one Assembly constituency of Yakutpura. Party’s candidate and sitting MlA Mumtaz Ahmad Khan was facing strong anti-incumbency as even diehard MIM supporters were angry and upset with his dismal performance.
Interestingly Mumtaz Ahmad Khan had made his debut as MlA with MBT in 1994 when the MIM had suffered serious setback after party rebel Amanullah Khan had launched his own party. But later Mumtaz defected to MIM winning thrice on its ticket.
However this time Amanullah Khan’s son Farhatulla Khan Majdeed was making Mumtaz Khan run for his money. MBT nominee was attracting sizeable crowds causing some disquiet in the MIM camp.
