All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Hyderabad parliamentary seat candidate Asaduddin Owaisi criticised Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for alleging that he was in cahoots with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mr. Owaisi was speaking at a public meeting where he lashed out at the Congress leader. He implied that his party was not in the poll fray in Amethi from where her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lost to the BJP’s Smriti Irani. He sought to know how many seats the Congress would win in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Owaisi faulted the Congress for allying with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena which he said was also responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Mr. Owaisi underscored that the Congress’ ally Aam Aadmi Party had supported the abrogation of Article 370.
Touching upon BJP leader Navneet Kaur Rana’s “15 seconds” comment, who has been booked since, Mr. Owaisi said, “A member of parliament who has served for 20 years is being told this. Fifteen seconds, fifteen minutes. What are they doing? If I had said this, imagine what would have happened. They would have been a storm. On TV, they would have said Asaduddin Owaisi is talking about terrorism. But when a BJP leader says this, everyone is quiet,” he said.
