Ahead of Assembly elections in the state, both the BRS and the Congress are out to woo the minorities, particularly the Muslims with the regional party pushing its workers to visit every household and mosques and convince the local imams to vote for the party.

Addressing a BRS meeting at Bodhan in Nizamabad Parliamentary constituency party MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha wondered why the Muslims should vote for Congress. She even took a dig at the Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his Bharat Jodo Yatra aimed at mitigating hate and disharmony among communities.

With Gandhi poised to begin the second phase of his Bharat Jodo Yatra in October, Kavitha hit out at him saying, “There is Rahul Gandhi who took out a new yatra called Bharat Jodo. It reminds me of the popular saying, ‘The cat is going on Hajj after killing 1,000 mice.’”

Elaborating on her contention, she pointed out that the Congress ruled the country for 62 years after independence. She asked, “What did you (Congress) do for the Muslims? What did you do for the poor?”

She said they (the Congress) raised the slogan of ‘Garibi hatao’, but drove away the poor instead of driving out poverty. In just ten years in Telangana, KCR brought in drastic change, it has happened nowhere else. Why should you go to the Congress? Why should you vote for the Congress?”

The BRS MLC, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Nizamabad in 2019 to BJP, urged the party workers to convince the Muslim community to vote for the regional party. “Our minority brothers should think about this. Go to every house and approach every maulana. Go to the masjids and convince the Muslims. Why should you vote for the Congress,” she asked.

She then claimed that Muslims in Telangana will vote for only K Chandrasekhar Rao. “A lot of people in Hyderabad and Delhi are saying Muslims in Telangana are thinking this and that. I want to say that the Muslims are not thinking about anything other than ‘car (BRS symbol) and KCR,” said Kavitha.

The BRS MLC pooh-poohed the concerns of the Muslim community over communal riots. “Rahul Gandhiji repeats only one thing from morning to evening – ‘Constitution is in danger, Democracy is in danger’. Nothing of the sort is happening. In Telangana, there is a strong leader like KCR, so both the Constitution and the democracy will survive here,” she added.

The BRS won the Assembly elections in 2018 in areas largely dominated by Muslims after AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi actively campaigned for the party. Moreover, the Muslims also supported the BRS party because of its welfare schemes, particularly the pensions for senior citizens and the Shadi Mubarak scheme under which parents of adult women got Rs one lakh from the state government to meet marriage expenses.