Hyderabad: The All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen Party has decided to contest six Lok Sabha and 40 Assembly seats in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the general election.
The party has also chalked out a strategy to field non-minority candidates in certain Assembly seats in AP.
MIM, which won the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat and seven MLA seats in the 2009 general election, is aiming to expand its base to Seemandhra and Telangana regions in 2014, in view of the political developments in the wake of the division of AP and the emergence of the Modi factor in politics at the national level.
According to sources close to party president Asaduddin Owaisi, after a series of deliberations with the party cadre, it was decided to field candidates from Hyderabad, Secunderabad,
Nizamabad, Anantapur, Kurnool, Mahbubnagar and Medak LS constituencies.
The party had left the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat to the Congress in 2004 as part of the understanding between them. But MIM has decided to contest the Secunderabad seat this time, sources added. This is one of the main reasons for the strained relations between the YSRC and MIM.
Sources said that the MIM is mainly concentrating on Musheerabad, Jubilee Hills, Goshamahal, Kukatpally, and Amberpet Assembly seats. MIM will field candidates in Guntur, Anan-thapur, Madanpalle, Kadapa, Nandyal, Kurnool, Hindupur, Nizamabad, Bodhan, Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Nirmal, Jagitayala, Karimnagar, Sangareddy, Tandur, Vikarabad and Kamareddy Assembly seats.
Referring to its plans to expand the party outside the city, sources disclosed that the party has identified certain segments where Muslim votes are the deciding factor.
The party leadership has been in touch with the elders of minority and non- minority communities of these segments and has asked them to select candidates who would be acceptable to all communities. The party will give tickets to such persons in the Assembly polls to ensure their victory with the support of Muslim votes.
The party is hoping that the Narendra Modi factor will lead to a consolidation of Muslim votes in its favour, and that this will make the party victorious at the hustings.
