Former minister and senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir has demanded the State Election Commission to take action against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi for his statement asking people to seek money from the Congress party for their votes in municipal elections.
In a statement here, he alleged that Asaduddin Owaisi was provoking the voters to demand money for their votes and this is nothing but violation of election norms. He said everyone in Telangana knows it is the TRS and the AIMIM who pay money to buy votes.
“People know your price is more than ₹ 2,000. That’s why your assets have increased from ₹ 39.02 lakh in 2004 to ₹ 13 crore in 2019 (as per ECI Affidavit),” he said.
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He advised Mr. Owaisi that before accusing others of accumulating wealth, he must clarify how his wealth multiplied manifold while voters of Hyderabad remained poor and backward. “Asaduddin Owaisi has turned into a multi-millionaire in 15 years. Can he explain how he accumulated so much of wealth?” he asked adding that people should visit the website of Election Commission of India to check the assets disclosed by MIM president in his election affidavits.
The former minister said Congress was fighting municipal elections on the issue of failure of TRS government in fulfilling the electoral promises and lack of development in urban local bodies in Telangana.
Mr. Shabbir Ali alleged that TRS and MIM have no respect for voters and they fix a price for each vote. They openly misuse the official machinery and there were allegations of cash transported by TRS leaders in police vehicles in Huzurnagar by-elections. Congress never indulged in such practices as it believes in free and fair elections, he said.
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The Congress leader said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has repeatedly insulted the Constitution and violated democratic norms by engineering defections of more than 50 MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other elected representatives but Mr. Owaisi was always silent on this.