All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi with others offer prayers at Mecca Masjid on the first Friday of the Holy month of Ramadan, in Hyderabad, Friday, March 15, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Hyderabad: The city of Hyderabad will be the site of one of the keenly-watched contests in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Telangana. The battle in the state just got interesting with the BJP fielding a political greenhorn to take on AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi in his home turf and aims to scuttle his re-election bid.
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, comprising mainly the old city of Hyderabad with a predominantly Muslim population, has been an AIMIM bastion, and the BJP has been making efforts to make inroads in the constituency. K Madhavi Latha will fight on a saffron party ticket to take on Owaisi, one of the most vocal critics of the BJP.
Elections will be held in Telangana on May 13.
Other parties, either Congress or BRS now or TDP in the past, don't fancy their chances of winning the seat.
Polarisation on religious lines has been a public secret in the constituency. BJP has often been the runner-up in the elections.
Owaisi (55) has so far won the constituency for four terms since 2004. Before that, he was a member of the undivided Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly for two terms.
Prior to Asaduddin Owaisi, his father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi had represented Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha for six consecutive terms between 1984 and 2004.
Salahuddin was also elected to the Legislative Assembly in undivided Andhra Pradesh for two terms between 1978 and 1984.
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency comprises seven assembly segments of Bahadurpura, Chandrayangutta, Charminar, Goshamahal, Karwan, Malakpet and Yakatpura.
All assembly seats, except Goshamahal, are held by the AIMIM. Goshamahal was retained by BJP's firebrand Hindutva leader Raja Singh.
Former AIMIM MLC Syed Aminul Hasan Jafri said the works related to civic amenities, including flyovers, are taking place in the old city.
AIMIM's public representatives, including MLAs and Corporators, are accessible to people at Darussalam, the party's headquarters here, to address their grievances, he said.
'No other party has its office open to the general public to come and represent their grievances. Majlis (AIMIM) does it at Darusslam,' he told PTI.
BJP, which has set its eyes on south to make significant, sprang a surprise when it announced the candidature of Madhavi Latha, a philanthropist, classical dancer and entrepreneur, in the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
She has the image of being a strong Hindutva proponent.
Madhavi Latha, who had worked with Muslim women groups on triple talaq, vows to fight to win the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat this time.
As a social activist, she had collaborated with several Muslim women groups on triple talaq and she was one of the few who were invited to talk on abolition of triple talaq, her office said.
She had also created a fund for destitute Muslim women, it said.
The ruling Congress and BRS have not announced their candidates for Hyderabad so far.