Stung by the its former ally, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which is expanding its base beyond Hyderabad, the Congress has started adding teeth to its defence and attack the Muslim political party by labeling it as “an agent of the BJP”.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has triggered a major row by alleging that MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and party floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi had joined hands with the BJP. “The BJP and the MIM are the two sides of the same coin”, he said in the most bitter attack by a Congress leader ever since the defeat of the party in Maharashtra Assembly elections, where the MIM had made a successful debut by winning two Assembly seats.
The Congress was also jittery over the prospects of the MIM further expanding its base in other States like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Both the MIM and the BJP have rejected Congress allegations of having a nexus out of hand.
MIM leaders have reminded the Congress that the MIM was very much part of the UPA at the Centre. “At that time they had not found the MIM a communal partyIJ” a party leader questioned.
Meanwhile, State BJP president G Kishan Reddy also reacted strongly to Digvijay Singh’s attack. “It was the Congress party which nourished and strengthened the MIM”, Reddy said. Talking to the reporters at Media Point in the State Assembly on Monday, Kishan Reddy said that the allegation of a nexus between the BJP and the MIM shows the bankruptcy of the Congress. “The BJP has always challenged the MIM. There is no question of the party working together with the MIM”, he said.
Charging the MIM with irregularities in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), he asked why the Congress did not withdraw its support to the party. “Only the BJP can fight the MIMIJ” he said.
Meanwhile, the BJP and the Telugu Desam Party have started exploring the possibilities of forming an alliance to fight the forthcoming elections to the GHMC. The issue figured in the meeting of the Union Minister of State and BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya with the TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Telangana TDP President l Ramanna also confirmed such a possibility and said that the two parties have bene allies in the past.
While Congress has made it clear that it will go ahead and contest the municipal elections alone, the ruling TRS was likely to fight the polls together.
Interestingly the Congress and the TDP have been MIM’s allies in previous GHMC elections.