Congress slams Owaisi for remarks on Rahul-Naidu meeting

Hyderabad: The Congress party has accused MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi of speaking in the tone of BJP and Sangh Parivar in criticising the meeting between AICC President Rahul Gandhi and AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

"Owaisi must clarify as to why he was angry over secular parties coming together to defeat communal BJP. Is it his hatred towards Congress party or love towards PM Modi that is making him give statements against formation of an anti-BJP front. Does he want all secular parties to remain divided to facilitate BJP retain power in next elections?" asked TPCC Minorities Department Chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail.

Abdullah Sohail said it was strange that Owaisi was targeting Naidu on his broken friendship with the BJP, but not accepting the fact caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was still a friend and fan of Prime Minister Narender Modi. "Can Owaisi deny the fact the TRS voted for BJP candidates in the elections for President and Vice President of India and supported Modi Government in all its moves since 2014?" he asked.

The Congress leader also asked Owaisi to cite a single statement of KCR condemning Modi for mob lynching. He said KCR neither visited the University of Hyderabad nor met the family after Rohit Vemula committed suicide. "Owaisi must clarify whether or not his party was a friend of TDP when Aziz and Azam were killed in encounter. Why MIM never held any protest against the killing of Muslim youth in fake encounters? Today Owaisi is shamelessly talking about encounters that happened 16 years ago. But he is silent on Alair encounter of 2015 under TRS regime wherein five Muslim undertrials were shot dead in a police van. Why MIM did not severed its ties with TRS after Alair encounter?," he asked.

He said thousands of Muslims had participated in the funeral procession of victims of Alair encounter in the Old City. To dilute the effect of protest and anger, within a week, Owaisi organised a programme of KCR on the same route where funeral procession was taken out. He also pointed out that when some Muslim organisations had decided to boycott the Iftar party hosted by CM KCR in protest against the Alair encounter, it was Owaisi who reached the venue even before KCR and broke his Iftar from the date offered by the CM. By doing so, he gave a message that was not a representative of Muslim community, but a slave of TRS, he said.

Abdullah Sohail said instead of supporting the unity of secular forces against BJP, Asaduddin Owaisi is raising questions on the secularism of Rahul Gandhi and Chandrababu Naidu. "The Tweet Master (Owaisi) is misleading the people with his jugglery of words. He must have some shame in criticising Congress party on the issue of secularism. MIM owes its very existence in Hyderabad to the Congress party. MIM would have finished long back if it did not had the support of Congress party. He sailed with the Congress party from 2004 to 2011 and enjoyed benefits of power and today, he is criticising the same party on the issue of secularism," he said.

The Congress leader said that Owaisi's statement was nothing but an attempt to sabotage the efforts being made by Rahul Gandhi to unite all secular forces. "Owaisi has once again proved that he is more loyal to Modi and KCR than the Muslim community. For him, protecting the interest of KCR and Modi is more important than saving the nation from communal forces. Owaisi cannot fool the Muslim community further. People have realised that both KCR and Owaisi are pro-Modi and pro-BJP and they would teach MIM and TRS a fitting lesson in next elections," he said while announcing that the Congress party would launch a vigorous door-to-door campaign across Telangana to convey the message that voting for TRS or MIM was like voting for BJP.