Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah to contest from Hyderabad in the next general elections.
Mr. Owaisi was speaking while addressing a public meeting in remembrance of his father and then MIM president the late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi on Friday night. The Hyderabad parliamentarian said that parties including the Congress and BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were making efforts to defeat the MIM in Hyderabad.
“Come here and contest. I am ready. In fact, I’m saying that Mr. Modi, come and contest from here (Hyderabad) also. If you won’t, then, send (Amit) Shah,” he said. He said that even if Congress and BJP field their candidates against him, the MIM would emerge victorious. Citing a media report, Mr. Owaisi expressed concern over the treatment of President Ram Nath Kovind at a temple in Odisha and criticised the Prime Minister on his silence on the issue. “At least one tweet to the President would have been enough. But he will not do it. What can we say to our PM?” he said.
Mr. Owaisi also said that when the PM went to pay his respects to Saint Kabir at his mausoleum, he had failed to speak to Qasim, a victim of lynching in Hapur.
