BRS will form govt in Telangana on its own strength: Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday said the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi will form the government in Telangana on its own strength in the November 30 Assembly polls and expressed confidence that his party would win all the nine seats in which it is contesting.

"BRS, Inshallah, will definitely form a government on their own strength. I am pretty sure that the BRS will get enough seats to form a government on their own. And AIMIM will win from all nine constituencies," the Hyderabad MP told PTI.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a friendly ally of BRS in Telangana, has put up candidates in nine segments for the upcoming Assembly polls. AIMIM had won seven seats in the 2018 Assembly polls in Telangana.

Owaisi, who has been undertaking door-to-door election campaign in the city, said: "It is a very good response and the love and affection which people have for our party and I am sure that this love and affection which is being showered on us will convert into votes and we will definitely win." Asaduddin has already made an appeal to the people to vote for AIMIM candidates wherever they contest and to BRS in the remaining seats.

Owaisi attacked the BJP for not conducting "caste census" and said in Telangana the saffron party had a BC president (Bandi Sanjay Kumar) and they removed him and got an upper caste person as the party president.

They did not give reservation (sub-quota for OBC and Muslim women) in the women's reservation bill passed in Parliament, Owaisi said adding "they do not want to do a caste census and this clearly exposes BJP's stand on OBCs." Owaisi listed out the work done for minorities welfare during the BRS regime following AIMIM's representation, adding "In the last nine-and-half years communal peace has been maintained in the state and there is no mob lynching." On Congress leader Kamal Nath's reported comments that the BJP cannot claim credit for the Ram temple at Ayodhya and that Rajiv Gandhi's role should not be forgotten, Owaisi said "Congress party had promised reconstruction of Babri mosque and what happened to it." Now their leader Kamal Nath says Rajiv Gandhi had got the doors (locks) of Babri Masjid opened which is now leading to construction on a place where Babri Masjid stood, he said and alleged this is Congress party's real face.

"They follow the same "Hindutva" as the BJP. I am of the opinion that Congress is the mother of RSS and RSS runs BJP. Congress symbol 'panja' (Hand) is in the hands of RSS in Telangana," he claimed and said Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (chief A Revanth Reddy) has a RSS background.

Owaisi further accused the BJP-led central government of conveniently sitting on the Telangana Assembly's resolution favouring increasing reservation for Scheduled Tribes and Muslims.

"It has been sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting to increase their quota. And that has to be done by the Union Government, but it is conveniently sitting on it," he said.

Owaisi also sought to know why the Congress government in Karnataka did not restore the 4 per cent reservation to Muslims which was scrapped by the previous BJP government in that state.