Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) managed to hold its ground in Hyderabad's Old City area, even though the overall results in the Telangana Assembly elections were a disappointment to the party with its unofficial 'ally' Bharat Rashtra Samithi losing power.
How did the AIMIM do?
What lies ahead for the party?
This article will try and answer these questions.
How Did AIMIM Perform?
The AIMIM won all the seven seats that it had won last time: Bahadurpura, Charminar, Chandrayangutta, Karwan, Malakpet, Nampally and Yakutpura.
The party put up candidates in two seats other than the seven they won last time - Jubilee Hills and Rajendranagar. The party is placed fourth in both seats, behind the BRS, Congress and BJP.
In Rajendranagar, the party fielded a Hindu candidate Mandagiri Swamy Yadav. In Jubilee Hills, the Congress had accused the AIMIM of fielding a candidate to ensure the defeat of former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin and help the BRS. At the time of writing this story, Azharuddin was trailing behind BRS' Maganti Gopinath by a small margin.
The wins are significant for the AIMIM as the party had made significant changes in its candidate list, retiring two top leaders Moazzam Khan and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri and shifting Nampally MLA Jaffar Hussain Meraj to Yakutpura. It brought in new faces Majid Hussain, Mohammad Mubeen and Mir Zulfiqar Ali in Nampally, Bahadurpura and Charminar respectively. All of these candidates won.
What Lies Ahead for AIMIM?
While the AIMIM's base in Hyderabad's Old City area seems intact, the BRS' loss in the state and Congress' win would come as a blow to it.
The AIMIM had very good ties with the BRS even though the two parties weren't electoral allies. The BRS always kept AIMIM in the loop while inaugurating any scheme or development work pertaining to minorities.
The AIMIM in turn openly backed the BRS government's measures. During the election campaign, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi made it a point to campaign even in several areas where the AIMIM didn't have candidates. In his rallies, Owaisi informed people of the work done by the BRS government for Muslims.
Now, it will be faced with a Congress government in the state. Congress and AIMIM are frequently at loggerheads over different issues. The Congress often accuses the AIMIM of being BJP's 'B-Team' while Owaisi accuses the Congress of betraying minorities. For instance, he slammed the party for supporting the UAPA (Amendment) in Parliament.
During the election campaign, Owaisi brought up state Congress chief Revanth Reddy's early days in the RSS' student wing ABVP.
However with Reddy tipped to be the frontrunner for CM, matters could get complicated.
This could place AIMIM in a tricky position. So far, Owaisi could try and expand in other parts of the country, especially Bihar and Maharashtra, because he didn't have to worry about Telangana as it was being ruled by a friendly government.
The Congress would now do all it can to target AIMIM's base in the Old City. In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party plans to try and consolidate Muslim votes across India and Owaisi is among its most vocal challengers in this space.
The acrimony between Congress and AIMIM is only likely to increase in the months to come.
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