Congress campaign kicks off in Jubilee Hills: 40 star campaigners hit the trail; AIMIM backs Naveen Yadav

HYDERABAD: A majority of the 40 star campaigners of the ruling Congress will hit the campaign trail from Wednesday in the bypoll-bound Jubilee Hills constituency. The grand old party is relying on door-to-door campaigns. Chief minister A Revanth Reddy is likely to hit the streets in the first week of Nov. The campaigning will come to a close on Nov 9, while the polling is on Nov 11.In a major boost to the Congress campaign in Jubilee Hills, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday appealed to the voters of the bypoll-bound constituency to vote for a young leader like V Naveen Yadav for the sake of development. Naveen is the Congress candidate for the bypoll.

Replying to media queries how could AIMIM be with Congress, directly or indirectly in Telangana, and on the other hand contesting the Bihar assembly elections against the Mahagathbandhan comprising Congress, Owaisi clarified that a by-election and a state assembly election cannot be equated.

"Our appeal to the people of Jubilee Hills is that the govt will not change with the outcome of the bypoll. We appeal to the nearly four lakh voters, who supported BRS for the last 10 years, to vote for a young leader (Naveen Yadav) to usher in development in Jubilee Hills because Congress is in power and the previous BRS govt had neglected the constituency. Also, the election in Bihar is to form the state govt. AIMIM Bihar state president Akhtarul Iman had written letters to Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Mallikarjun Kharge and left party leaders to include AIMIM in Mahagathbandhan.

But they did not respond," Owaisi said.The AIMIM president also said the party has decided not to field a candidate in Jubilee Hills bypoll. Owaisi also said AIMIM might adopt a different strategy in the next elections in Telangana as the party decides about its road map.Meanwhile, Telangana Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud has written a letter to TJS founder-president M Kodandaram, seeking his and his party's support to Congress in the Jubilee Hills bye-election.

The TPCC chief has already sought the support of CPI, CPM and AIMIM.Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy asked the BRS leaders why did they make Jubilee Hills former MLA P Vishnuvardhan Reddy also file his nomination, when they had given the B-form to Maganti Sunitha, the widow of Maganti Gopinath whose death necessitated the bypoll.