Owaisi calls INDIA bloc ‘self-styled secularism ke chaudhary’: ‘Don’t care’
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday said it was not a matter of concern for him that his party was not invited to the opposition’s bloc of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. Many parties of Hindi heartland, Maharashtra and the northeast are not part of this bloc, including the Bahujan Samaj Party and some parties from the northeast. “I don’t care that I was not invited to this alliance. In fact, Mayawati and KCR are not there. Many northeast parties are not there. These people have become the custodians of self-styled secularism,” Owaisi said.
The statement comes as the Congress holds its two-day working committee convention in Hyderabad keeping its eye on the Telangana assembly election.
“I have told our CM to come in the front and make a third front taking the parties which are not there in the opposition alliance. There is a political vacuum which will be filled if KCR takes the lead. I don’t know whether KCR will take the lead for such a front but I feel the INDIA alliance is not being able to fill the political vacuum,” Owaisi said.
September 17 is observed as National Integration Day to mark the merger of the princely state with the Indian Union 75 years ago. BJP calls it Telangana Liberation Day.
28 parties have joined the opposition alliance bloc INDIA which held three meetings so far — in Patna, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Several committees have been set up to discuss crucial issues among the partners including seat sharing, the most important of them.
The alliance has come under fire after DMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin compared Sanatan Dharma with dengue, malaria and said Sanatan needs to be eradicated. Even PM Modi addressed the Sanatan row while a new controversy over banning 14 journalists mired the alliance.
