Telangana model of peace and progress must be adopted everywhere: Owaisi

AIMIM chief rubbishes buzz about the possibility of a fractured mandate in upcoming Assembly elections, says minorities-friendly Bharat Rashtra Samithi will get a majority on its own.

Soon after announcing that the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) would field its candidates in nine constituencies for the Telangana Assembly elections, party president Asaduddin Owaisi spoke exclusively to The Hindu on a gamut of subjects. From his criticism of the Congress and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking a coalition government in the State, and of the need to adopt the “Telangana model” across India. Edited excerpts:

Q: AIMIM’s first list, comprising constituencies in Hyderabad, is out. Will we see another list of candidates that will reflect the party’s increase in footprint across Telangana given that you have a presence in local bodies?

A: We made it clear that we are going to field candidates in nine constituencies. As regards contesting 35 seats in the 2014 elections, that happened in erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. The Election Commission had a rule that to get a common symbol, a certain number of seats should be contested. That rule has been changed now. One opinion suggested that if we have enough corporators, why don’t we contest Assembly elections? The other view was that local body elections, in comparison, are fought at a different level. The consensus that emerged was, let us focus on nine Assembly seats. Wherever we are not contesting, we will support the present Chief Minister.

Q: Is Congress the principal opposition in Telangana, given that you have primarily been criticising that party, and its leader Rahul Gandhi?

A: Rahul Gandhi suffers from political selective amnesia, and talks about money. He doesn’t remember that we supported the UPA government during the Nuclear deal, a time the Left stood with Mr.(L.K.) Advani. We supported the Congress government of Kiran Kumar Reddy when it was facing a no-confidence motion. We supported the Congress’ candidates for President of India. Sonia Gandhi called me and I assured her of my support. Was money given to me then? If everything is about money for Rahul Gandhi, then I can also ask if Mr.Modi gave him money so that Congress is reduced to 40- or 50-odd seats in 2014 and 2019 elections.

Q: Do you think there will be a fractured mandate in Telangana given that you have been cautioning the public of a possible coalition government?

A: I don’t think that there will be a fractured mandate. BRS will get a majority on its own.A coalition government is the intention of the BJP. B.L.Santhosh, who came from the RSS, said that no party would get majority. This shows the BJP’s intentions.