Telangana Assembly Elections 2018: TRS, AIMIM friendship blossoms in poll-bound Telangana

Hyderabad: This is one friendship that seems to have really blossomed in poll-bound Telangana where campaigning is in full swing.

Caretaker Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao described the AIMIM, led by Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi, a "friendly party" on September 6, the day the 119-member Assembly was dissolved. It is not as if Rao was saying anything new; just a reiteration of what was in full display during his tenure. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which counts Old city area as its stronghold and won seven seats in the 2014 Telangana Assembly elections, has fielded eight candidates for the December 7 polls, and has made no secret that it is backing the TRS in other constituencies. 

Incidentally, Owaisi had addressed a campaign meeting supporting the TRS at Nirmal town. "I feel that the TRS has a very good chance of coming back (to power) and I see KCR (as K Chandrasekhar Rao is popularly known) becoming chief minister again," Owaisi told PTI in an interview recently. "In the last four years, there have been no incidents of communal riots in Telangana. There is no fear atmosphere in Telangana. That in itself would help KCR," he said. KCR, in turn, has also been wholesome in his praise of Owaisi. In campaign meetings, the caretaker chief minister has alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi conspired to topple his government and it was Owaisi who promised to come to his support. 

The TRS and the AIMIM have come under severe attacks from both the BJP and the Congress during the ongoing campaigning. Appealing to the electorate to back BJP candidates, the party president Amit Shah said only his party can "rid" Telangana of the AIMIM. Congress president Rahul Gandhi, at public meetings, has charged the TRS and the AIMIM with having an objective to prevent his party from coming to power at the Centre, and to see that the Modi government was re-elected. Assembly elections in Telangana will be held on December 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 11.