Owaisi diverting Muslims from vote chori, turning vote ‘katwa’: Cong leader | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Congress leader and Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency in charge Mohammed Waliullah Sameer on Tuesday accused AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi of diverting Muslim voters from the crucial issue of vote chori, being raised by Rahul Gandhi, by shifting the political discourse in the Uttar Pradesh election campaign towards community-specific leadership.Reacting to Owaisi’s recent speeches in Azamgarh and Rampur asking Muslims to stop depending on Gandhi-Nehru or Yadav leadership and develop their own political leadership, Sameer Waliullah said the timing was significant. “At a time when Rahul Gandhi is asking whether every eligible citizen’s vote is safe, Owaisi wants Muslims to debate who their leader should be. If your name itself disappears from the voter list, what meaning does any debate over leadership have? The first battle is to protect the vote,” he said.Sameer Waliullah alleged Owaisi’s intervention should also be examined against AIMIM’s performance in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. He claimed that AIMIM’s vote tally in several constituencies exceeded BJP’s victory margin over Samajwadi Party or its allies.In Nakur, BJP won by 315 votes while AIMIM polled over 3,500 votes. In Kursi, Bijnor, Sultanpur and Aurai, the votes polled by AIMIM were more than the margin of votes lost by the parties against BJP.These statistics are facts, which is why the “Owaisi is a vote katwa” question cannot simply be dismissed as political propaganda, alleged Sameer Waliullah. When AIMIM polls more votes than BJP’s victory margin in close contests, people have every right to question its intention behind contesting in so many seats but entering the electoral battle from only a few seats in home state Telangana, said Sameer Waliullah.“Though AIMIM has a democratic right to contest elections, it is also the right of secular-minded persons to question the intentions of the party. Owaisi is now campaigning for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. No one is denying AIMIM its right to contest. The question is who ultimately benefits when votes opposed to BJP get divided in a closely fought election,” Sameer Waliullah asked.Sameer Waliullah said Muslim voters should remain alert to what he described as two separate dangers. “First, there is the danger of vote chori through alleged irregularities in electoral rolls. Then, there is vote katwa politics. Muslims must understand both,” he appealed to them.