Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi seems to be feeling discomfort of the power of political magnetism possessed by TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao.
MIM has begun cozying up to TRS thinking that the T-sentiment would never touch the borders of cosmopolitan Hyderabad where non-Telangana people outnumber the sons-of-the soil.
This false notion emboldened him to jettison the Congress party, which helped MIM grow stronger in Old City of Hyderabad and embrace KCR. In past, when Congress was the only ruling party at the centre and the state, there had been an unwritten agreement between the Congress and MIM that MIM would be numero uno in Old City and it should not venture out of its sanctuary to other Hyderabad.
Much water has flown in Musi. Things have changed. It left Congress and joined hands with TRS before 2014 elections with an impression that it would be the Nizam of Hyderabad as the TRS was a rarity in capital city at that time.
The developments in the past couple of months appears to be creating nervousness in the MIM leadership because things are happening in such a way that it never thought of. TRS is getting stronger that one day that may go against the very survival of the MIM itself. TRS is not Congress. Congress despite its avowed secular credentials honored MIM as a permanent friend. This may not happen in the case of TRS. Given a chance, TRS would not hesitate to finish MIM and paint Old City Pink.
MIM boss seems to have understood the writing on the wall. He raised a new slogan-“Hyderabad for Hyderabadis”. Asad’s first war cry was to reject the outsiders in the forthcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation(GhMC) elections.
He announced Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) will contest 70-75 out of 150 seats. He said he was confident that an MIM leader will again become Hyderabad’s mayor.
In the previous GHMC, Asad’s party shared power with Congress and MIM’s Majid Husssain was mayor for the last three years of corporation term as per an agreement between the two parties.
He said Uttam Kumar Reddy, TPCC president, was an outsider. Uttam has aggressively launched the GHMC campaign from Old City and had met the person who allegedly made a bid on the life of his brother Akabruddin Owaisi. This seems to have infuriated the MIM leader. Though he targeted Congress, BJP and TDP for the ‘Outsider’ attack, he is indirectly targeting TRS as well. Because, if Nalgonda’s Uttam Kumar Reddy is an outsider, KCR is also an outsider, because the T-CM hails from Medak district. In his first election meeting, Owaisi went soft on TRS, as he is scared of the ruling party chief’s ability to manipulate things against MIM even before the elections are notified.