AP Bypolls: BJP in Quandary to Field Candidates

The Bharatiya Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh is into a quandary to field candidates for the 18 March bypolls in the state. The party is still in dilemma whether to contest the by-elections or not as majority of seats fall in politically sensitive Telangana region. Of the seven seats, the party has so far decided to field candidates only in Mahabubnagar and Kovur.

The bypolls in six out of seven constituencies in Telangana region are necessitated following resignation of the sitting MLAs in support of separate statehood demand and death of Mahabubnagar MLA. Except Kovur, all other seats -- Mahabubnagar, Kollapur, Nagarkurnool, Station Ghanpur, Adilabad and Kamareddy -- fall in Telangana region which has often witnessed turmoil over separate statehood. If BJP, which is also a member of Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC) along with Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), fields its candidates in Telangana region, it would be accused of splitting pro-Telangana votes. If it chooses not to contest, then will lose the only opportunity it has for consolidating the party position for 2014 elections.

On the other hand, TRS has already announced its candidates for all the six constituencies and also enjoys the support of JAC. Now the BJP has to decide whether to sail along with the fading out TJAC or to face the ensuing elections on its own, opine the political observers.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.