All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday lashed out at the 'Mahakutami' or grand alliance being forged in Telangana ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, scheduled to be held on December 7.
Addressing a gathering at Sangareddy, Owaisi referred to the alliance which includes the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and Communist Party of India (CPI) and termed it as the 'East India Company of 2018'.
"Now will (Chandrababu) Naidu save Telangana's composite culture or will the Congress save it? This is not 'Mahakutami' (grand alliance); it is the East India Company of 2018. Will Naidu who is in Vijayawada or the Congress which is in Delhi, decide the fate of Telangana and its people? This is your state and you will decide its fate...For this, it is necessary to send this modern East India Company back to where they belong on December 7," Owaisi was quoted as saying.
Owaisi also condemned the killing of 68-year-old Devunoor Satyanarayana, a Hindu priest in Warangal who died after he was assaulted by a local imam, Yakoob, allegedly over a feud to turn off speakers.
"In Telangana, no Yakoob should kill a Satyanarayana and no Satyanarayana should kill a Yakoob. I condemn this and demand strict action by the police. Telangana has a composite culture. We have been staying together for centuries and the call for prayers will come from temples and mosques," he said.
The AIMIM has already renominated its seven sitting MLAs to contest in Hyderabad’s old city area and is expected to release a second list soon. This may include contesting from areas like Amberpet, Jubilee Hills, Musheerabad, Rajendranagar, Secunderabad and Uppal besides areas like Maheshwaram and Nizamabad Urban in Telangana.
The state’s caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has repeatedly also emphasized that the AIMIM is a friendly party.
The elections are scheduled to be held on December 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 11.