Congress and BRS candidates were seen making a beeline in front of local mosques in their constituencies on Friday afternoon vying each other to woo Muslim voters at the last congregation prayer before Telangana goes to polls on 30 November.

With 13 per cent Muslim population in the state the minority vote is expected to prove a decisive factor in more than 40 seats in the state.

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Much as BJP likes us to believe that the AIMIM holds sway in entire Telangana in reality the party led by Owaisi brothers is limited primarily to the Old City area spread over some seven seats. In 2018, the Muslims had voted primarily for the BRS, thanks to the regime’s pension schemes as well as Shadi Mubarak Scheme under which parents of the girls of marriageable age were given Rs one lakh for meeting the wedding expenses.

However, a stingy BRS gave tickets to only two Muslim candidates, Md Shakeel from Bodhan, who is a sitting MLA while the other went to Ali Baqri from Bahadurpura, an AIMIM bastion. The Congress did slightly better nominating five candidates, including its old war horse Md Ali Shabbir who was brought in to contest Nizamabad (Urban) and Md Azharuddin, former cricketer from Jubilee Hills constituency.

This time around, the Congress undertook a massive outreach programme to bring back the minorities in its fold, coming out with a separate minority declaration aimed at the Muslims.

According to a highly-placed BRS source, the Muslim vote this time in the districts is divided with the ruling party tipped to get 60 per cent of votes and the rest going to the Congress. A senior leader admitted that the Congress “propaganda” that the BRS and the BJP have a tacit understanding has resulted in the split in the minority votes.

A section of the Muslim community is also disenchanted with the BRS for lack of jobs, scholarships and other opportunities and an unkempt promise of providing 12 per cent reservation. A Congress leader, who had just finished campaigning outside the local mosque today, claimed, “In 2018, we got 30 per cent minority vote while the rest had gone to BRS. But this time, we estimated that it would be just the reverse, that is, we will get 70 per cent of the minority vote.

AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi urged the minority voters to vote for his party in the nine constituencies where it has fielded candidates and in the rest to vote for “Mamu” (KCR). But other Joint Action Committee of Telangana Muslim Organisations has announced full support to the Congress.

According to political analyst CR Gowri Shanker, the Muslims residing in the districts are very different from their counterparts in the Old City. They vote according to their own preference. Riots in the past in the old city area changed their mindset. But the AIMIM does not have much influence in the districts.

For instance, BJP’s attempt at polarisation worked pretty well in the civic elections of the Greater Hyderabad area in 2020. However, this time Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s campaign calling for removal of 4 per cent reservation for backward Muslims and implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to secure its own right-wing vote bank might just drive the minority voters towards Congress.