The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's decision to pullout from the Centre and the Andhra government will spell big trouble for the Congress. Mohammed Siddique reports from Hyderabad.
With its decision to severe relations with the Congress both in Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is once again in focus. One of the biggest Muslim political parties in the country, the MIM has traditionally enjoyed total control over Hyderabad.
Gradually increasing its strength over the decades, the party won seven seats in the state assembly in 2009. It has also been winning the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat since 1984. Presently, the party is also in power in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and as part of an agreement with the Congress its nominee is the city mayor.
Recently, the party also signaled the expansion of its sphere of influence by winning 11 seats in the Nanded Municipal Corporation in neighbouring Maharashtra.
Also read: 'Cong govt is licking the boots of BJP, Sangh Parivar'The party, which was revived by prominent lawyer Abdul Ahad Owaisi in 1950s, following the merger of the Hyderabad state to the Indian Union in 1948, has always identified itself with the issues and causes of the Muslim community. While his son Salahuddin Owaisi led the party till his death, four years ago, Salahuddin's son Asaduddin Owaisi, a London returned barrister, is its president now.
While traditionally the MIM was known to pursue the policy of having a working and friendly relationship with any ruling party in the state, it donned an adversarial role against Telugu Desam Party of N Chandrababu Naidu in 1998 when he decided to support the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government.
The MIM swung to the other side and joined hands with the Congress. In the 2004 and 2009 elections, the MIM not only supported the Congress but also marshaled several other Muslim organisations under the banner of the Muslim United Action Committee to mobilise support among Muslims for the Congress, playing a major role in defeat of the TDP and ending Naidu's rule.
The MIM leadership had stable and cordial relations with Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, whose death in a helicopter crash in 2009 plunged the state in to a never ending political uncertainty
and turmoil. However at the Centre, Owaisi continued to enjoy a good rapport with the United Progressive Alliance and its chairperson Sonia Gandhi. It was no coincidence that the MIM adopted a clear stand against the demand for separate Telangana, strengthening the position of YSR on the issue.