The Congress did not file a candidate as part of an understanding with the AIMIM while the BRS is staying away due to lack of numbers
Hyderabad: The BJP on Friday introduced an element of intrigue by deciding to contest for the Legislative Council seat from the Hyderabad local authorities' constituency, thereby necessitation an election on April 23. It was earlier thought that the AIMIM, which has a huge lead among the voters — 112 local representatives — would be elected unopposed.
The results will be available on April 25.
Friday being the last date of nomination, the AIMIM picked Mirza Riyaz Ul Hassan Effendi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced educationist N. Goutham Rao as its candidate.
The Congress did not file a candidate as part of an understanding with the AIMIM while the BRS is staying away due to lack of numbers.
The BJP and AIMIM filed their nominations on Friday.
Two independent candidates – Kante Sayanna and Chandra Sekhar Chalika — have also filed their nominations.
The AIMIM has 48 electors and the BJP has 25. The Congress has 14 voters and the BRS 25. The half-way mark is 57 votes, giving the AIMIM 62 votes along with Congress support. Even in the unlikely event of the BJP and the BRS come together, they can muster 50 votes.
Only corporators and ex officio members of 15 Assembly constituencies of Hyderabad or those registered as voters for the Hyderabad MLC seat can exercise their franchise.
Earlier in the day, Telangana BJP president and Union minister G. Kishan Reddy and Union minister of state Bandi Sanjay were closeted with party’s Rajya Sabha member Dr K. Laxman and local body election convener N. Ramachander Rao and zeroed in on Gautham Rao, who has been with the BJP for 15 years after serving in its student wing ABVP for 30 years. They appraised party high command to get its approval.
Talking to Deccan Chronicle, a BJP leader said that their main intention to contest the election was to expose how the Congress was surrendering to the “fundamentalist agenda” of the AIMIM and carrying out appeasement politics.
“The unholy alliance between Congress and MIM started in 1978, when the city witnessed its worst communal riots. In lieu of handing over the Nizam-era fire service station office to the MIM , the deal was done to support,” BJP leader Chintala Ramachandra Reddy claimed.
The then P.V. Narasimha Rao-led state government supported the MIM in many ways to set up its Deccan Medical College, he claimed. The Congress was supporting MIM in April 12 election.
Meanwhile, Sanjay said that the “non-existent” delimitation issue had brought the Congress, the BRS and MIM together. The trio had voted jointly against the Centre on the Waqf Bill in Parliament, he said.
“Now, the BRS and the Congress have backed off from contesting the election to ensure the AIMIM’s victory,” Sanjay said. He said the Congress was partnering with the BRS and MIM which it had accused of aligning with the BJP during elections. “Next time, before making baseless statements for votes, check your own house before pointing fingers. Hypocrisy is showing and Telangana is watching," Sanjay said in his social media account in a post meant for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
BJP candidate Gautham Rao filed the nomination in presence of BJP GHMC floor leader Shankar Yadav and former MLC Ramachandra Reddy.
Effendi served as corporators at Noorkhan Bazaar in 2009 and Dabeerpura in 2016. He was elected MLC under the MLAs quota in 2019.
Goutham Rao is chairman of the Vignana Bharathi Institute of Technology. Having joined the BJP in 2016, he served as general secretary of the Hyderabad city party unit.
Number of electors: 112
AIMIM: 48
Congress: 14
BRS: 25
BJP: 25
Important dates
Scrutiny of nominations: April 7
Withdrawal: April 9
Polling: April 23, 8 am to 4 pm
Counting of votes: April 25
