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It is a party that holds sway over much of the Hyderabad old city and is key to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) efforts to retain power in Telangana for the third successive term. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), whose main faces are the Owaisi brothers, is often a polarising presence on the stage of national politics — a target for both the BJP, which accuses it of misleading the minority community, and the Opposition, which alleges it is the “B team” of the BJP and helps divide Opposition votes.
Asaduddin Owaisi, Hyderabad MP
The 54-year-old is the president of the AIMIM and the sitting MP from Hyderabad, a constituency that he has held since 2004. Before that Asaduddin was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly twice (in 1994 and 1999).
Asaduddin and his party hold sway over much of Hyderabad’s old city area, especially in Charminar, Chandrayangutta, Yakutpura, Malakpet, Karwan, and Bahadurpura. The Hyderabad MP personally holds a lot of sway over Muslims in the rest of Telangana and is responsible for swinging minority votes in favour of the BRS, with which the AIMIM tied up in 2014 and 2018. He has also expanded the party in the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, and in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the north. The party’s only other parliamentarian is from Aurangabad in Maharashtra and it has legislators and holds municipality posts in the other states.
For BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, Asaduddin’s support is crucial to nullify the Congress’s efforts to reach out to minority community voters and counter the BJP. The AIMIM chief is also likely to campaign in the other states going to polls, especially Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where the party is trying to gain a foothold in some pockets in the state (for example, Tonk in eastern Rajasthan).
Akbaruddin Owaisi, Chandrayangutta MLA
If Asaduddin is seen as the measured voice of the party, his younger brother is the one who provokes with speeches that have often been accused of being communal.
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The 53-year-old Akabaruddin Owaisi is a five-time MLA from Chandrayangutta, a seat that he has been winning since 1999, and is the AIMIM’s floor leader in the Telangana Assembly. He has also held the post in the Assembly of undivided Andhra Pradesh since 1999.
Akbaruddin is a popular figure among major sections of the Muslim youth because of his provocative speeches, which are delivered in chaste Urdu. He often attacks the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and in the past has also threatened authors Taslima Nasreen and Salman Rushdie. In 2009, AIMIM workers, alleged to be his supporters, attacked Urdu daily Siasat’s editor Zahid Ali Khan who was in the fray from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat.
Akbaruddin was injured In April 2011 when a rival group fired at him in Chandrayangutta. In December 2012, he was accused of delivering hate speeches in Nizamabad and the town of Nirmal. He was arrested in January 2013, first in connection with the Nirmal speech and was later shown as arrested in the second hate speech case too. Akbaruddin spent 40 days in jail before bail was granted. In April 2022, a special sessions court for the trial of MPs and MLAs found the evidence provided by the prosecution insufficient. It gave the AIMIM leader the benefit of the doubt and acquitted him in both cases.
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