Owaisi backs Congress candidate in Jubilee Hills bypolls

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday threw his weight behind Naveen Yadav, the Congress candidate contesting the Jubilee Hills bypoll.

Mr. Owaisi, who is the Hyderabad parliamentarian, was speaking to the media at party headquarters in Dar-us-salaam, where he said that his party had decided to support Mr Yadav.

The AIMIM chief, in the recent past, had alleged former Jubilee Hills legislator from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, the late Maganti Gopinath, had done little for the constituency. He also had also urged the electors to vote for a young, local candidate, stopping short of naming Mr. Yadav. Tuesday’s development gives clarity on who the AIMIM would support.

Mr. Owaisi sought to drive home the fine point that support for a Congress candidate in the Jubilee Hills byelection, and his party contesting the Assembly elections in Bihar were two different cases, with different contexts. While the bypoll would not have a direct impact on the forming or bringing down the current government, the Bihar elections were about forming a government, he maintained. He clarified that in Bihar, Amour legislator Akhtarul Iman had written to the RJD, seeking an alliance and contesting in six seats. However, given that no favourable response came, the AIMIM was contesting with the Azad Samaj Party and Apni Janata Party.

The Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency has a significant Muslim population. The AIMIM has at least two wards where it has its representatives.