The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded a Muslim candidate for the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation elections scheduled for February 11, marking its first such move in the town in nearly five decades and a rare attempt to enter an AIMIM-dominated ward.
The BJP has nominated Md Inayath Ali, a 50-year-old flower shop owner, from Ward 32, a Muslim-majority division long considered an AIMIM bastion, The Times of India reported. The move is being seen as a strategic effort by the party to break into the AIMIM vote base and project broader social outreach.
The nomination comes under the leadership of Karimnagar MP and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is known for his hardline Hindutva politics and aggressive rhetoric against the AIMIM. His role in backing a Muslim candidate in a nearly all-Muslim ward has raised eyebrows, underscoring the party’s pragmatic approach despite its ideological positioning.
Ward 32 has 5,030 voters, nearly 98 per cent of whom are Muslim, with a small Hindu population. The AIMIM has controlled the ward for nearly four decades, and the BJP has never contested from this division before.
Ali said Sanjay personally encouraged him to contest, calling the decision politically significant given the BJP leader’s past positioning. He acknowledged scepticism within his community but said his family supported the move, citing promises of development and access to central welfare schemes.
Sanjay defended the nomination, saying the BJP opposed the AIMIM politically, not any community, and claimed the party was committed to inclusive development.
The AIMIM, meanwhile, has launched an aggressive counter-campaign, deploying senior leaders and campaigners from outside Telangana to retain its stronghold.