Common goal

The BJP and the AIMIM look to derail the Congress

- RAHUL DEVULAPALLI

THE ENEMY OF an enemy is a friend. The BJP and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen—after having attacked each other for years—seem to have finally found a common enemy: the Congress.

For the AIMIM, the reason is simple. The party wants its ally, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, to retain power by defeating its principal opponent. The AIMIM and the Congress once had a strong bond, but this was ruptured after power dynamics changed in Telangana post-2014. In recent years, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has tried to portray the Congress as an extension of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Owaisi’s party currently has seven MLAs, all from the older parts of Hyderabad. But this time, the AIMIM has said that it will contest two additional seats, leading to allegations that the party is acting as a “vote cutter” to damage the Congress’s prospects. One of these seats, Jubilee Hills, is in the spotlight because of the Congress candidate—Mohammad Azharuddin, the former Indian cricket captain. Jubilee Hills has around 1.2 lakh Muslim votes, which make up almost 35 per cent of the total votes.

In 2014, the AIMIM made a serious attempt to capture this seat, narrowly losing to the BRS. After that, they formed an alliance and, in 2018, the AIMIM did not put up a candidate against the sitting BRS MLA. This time, though, the AIMIM has fielded Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin, which has led the Congress to allege that the AIMIM was trying to split the Muslim vote as Azharuddin could win a large chunk of the community’s vote and spoil the BRS’s chances.