Botsa-CM Differ on Banswada Byelection

The byelection to the Banswada assembly constituency, caused by Pocharam Srinivas Reddy's resignation in support of separate Telangana, has given raise to a difference of opinion between the chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana.

On Saturday, the steering committee of the T-Congress had urged the party leadership to honour the decision of the Telangana parties to leave any byelection connected to the Telangana cause uncontested. In spite of different views in the state Congress on contesting the Banswada byelection on October 13, a meeting held by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy decided that the party would throw its hat in the ring.

The meeting, attended by PCC presisdent Botsa Satyanarayana, MP Suresh Setkar, minister B Sudarshan Reddy and Nizamabad DCC president G Gangadhar, finally took the decision which goes against the recommendation of the steering committee of the T-Congress which advocated opting out of the bypoll since it is related to the Telangana issue. In fact, except the chief minister, all the other members, Botsa, former PCC chief D Srinivas, former minitser Md Shabbir Ali, Shetkar and Sudarshan Reddy are opposed to fielding a candidate in the by-election.

Botsa, who is having a soft corner for the T-movement, is expected to put forth his argument before the party high command in New Delhi in the next couple of days to persuade the leadership to abstain from contesting the election. According to sources, Botsa is of the view that fielding a candidate in the byelection against TRS would vitiate the atmosphere for the Congress in Telangana. He is also said to have argued in the party circles against the party taking the risk of losing election and incurring the wrath of people since the outcome does not alter the Congress position in the assembly.

Meanwhile, sources close to the CM said that he was against the decision of TCongress steering committee as it would set a precedent. "The CM is anticipating some more byelections in Telangana. So, as a national party, apprehending defeat, we should not shy away from facing elections," is the opinion of the CM, according to sources. The Seemandhra Congress leaders are expected to back the chief minister in this tussle with the PCC president.
 

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.