Asaduddin Owaisi and Rahul Gandhi.
Credit: DH and PTI File Photos.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was challenged on Sunday by All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi to run for office in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Hyderabad rather than Wayanad, reports ANI.
Asaduddin Owaisi was speaking to a public gathering in Hyderabad, his parliamentary constituency.
"I am challenging your leader (Rahul Gandhi) to contest elections from Hyderabad and not Wayanad. You keep giving big statements, come to the ground and fight against me. People from Congress will say a lot of things, but I am ready...Babri Masjid and Secretariat's mosque were demolished under the Congress regime..." Owaisi added.
The Congress and AIMIM are fighting it out in Telangana for control of the state's government in the upcoming Assembly elections, which are expected to take place later this year.
Speaking at the Vijayabheri Sabha in Telangana's Tukkuguda earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and AIMIM are collaborating in Telangana and that his party is fighting against this troika.
Rahul Gandhi also stated that in Telangana, the Congress party was not fighting against BRS but with BRS, BJP, and AIMIM combined. They call themselves different parties, but they are working together unitedly, he added.
Rahul Gandhi also asserted that since Prime Minister Narendra Modi views K Chandrashekar Rao of Telangana and Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM as his "own people," there are no CBI-ED cases against them.
Every political party in the race is doing everything they can to win the Telangana Assembly elections. The Congress has announced its "six guarantees," which the party claims will be fulfilled if they are elected to office. The ruling BRS has already announced its list of candidates for the upcoming elections.