BJP moving its goalposts to Old City

Post ordinance banning Triple Talaq, the party leadership is mulling inviting Muslim women to contest from MIM bastions

Hyderabad: Women voters in seven Assembly segments in the Old City may spring a surprise if the BJP makes a move intelligently.

According to sources, post promulgation of the triple talaq ordinance by the BJP government at the Centre headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now the party is mulling taking efforts to ensure gender justice and women empowerment to the Owaisi’s bastion.

It may be mentioned here that the Majlis chief Asaduddin Owaisi is a bitter critic of the Centre’s stand on triple talaq.

It is against this backdrop that the BJP is all set to open its doors to Muslim women from the Old city.

The party is considering fielding women in the Assembly segments, which are known as strongholds of MIM.

The party leaders have felt that the move will build pressure on the Majlis and force the latter to spell out its stand on gender justice and empowerment of Muslim women in its own electoral bastions.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior leader from the city BJP said the Majlis has turned all the seven Assembly segments of Chandrayanagutta, Charminar, Bahadurpura, Malakpet, Nampally, Karwan and Yakutpura into its fort.

Besides, the party has been successively winning the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for five terms.

Earlier, BJP senior leader Baddam Balreddy had won Karwan Assembly segment.

But later, he lost it to AIMIM which has consolidated its grip over the segment.

Further, in its bid to extend its footprints, the party has been making efforts to ensure that its candidate wins in Rajendranagar Assembly constituency.

"It is a clear indication that the Majlis are making efforts to spread its area of influence to other constituencies in the twin cities.

The Majlis have intended to tighten its grip on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), either on its own or in alliance with the ruling party in the State," the BJP leader clarified.

The BJP leader said the Majlis in Karwan, Nampally and Malakpet have been winning because of split in non-minority votes.

A senior BJP leader said the AIMIM has always been playing safe by entering into a political alliance with the ruling party in the State.
This is to prevent the ruling party from fielding its candidates against Majlis’ nominees, in any of the Assembly and the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituencies.

As part of this, it had also experimented by fielding Hindu candidates in the Assembly and in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections.

Three candidates like K Prakash Rao, A Satyanarayana, besides the first Mayor of Hyderabad A Pochaiah were from AIMIM.

In addition to this, it had fielded A Muralidhar Rao as its candidate from the Rajendranagar Assembly segment, but lost the election, he said.
Going a step further, it had also fielded a non-minority woman against a Muslim woman candidate and won in the local elections.

To take all these factors to their logical end, the party has intended to mount its fight against the AIMIM in its home turf by fielding prospective Muslim women interested in contesting from the segments in the Old City.

When asked on this issue, BJP Telangana President K Laxman said the party would be inviting applications from the prospective candidates interested to contest as the party candidates.

The party has an open mind to welcome winnable candidates from among the Muslim women to contest as the party candidates, he said.