Union minister for home affairs Mr Amit Shah today accused AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi of defending the Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators in the Parliament and the Hyderabad MP hit back at the BJP leader saying the infiltrators exist only in his “imagination” and the bogey is raised only during elections.

Shah was the last of the heavy weight national leaders of BJP who campaigned for the party for the civic elections in Hyderabad with the hope that BJP will get its own mayor after winning the board.

Shah predictably attacked the AIMIM and said its ties with the TRS has caused the city to lag behind in development.

“The Majlis (AIMIM) is the partner of TRS and the former encourages illegal constructions and that is why the city was flooded. The chief minister was never seen when the city got flooded nor was Owaisi,” he alleged.

Asked about Owaisi’s dig saying what was the home minister doing if there were so many infiltrators in old city area as BJP leaders alleged the presence of Rohingyas in the electoral rolls

Shah said: “When I take action they do ‘hai-touba’ in Parliament. Didn’t you see that? Let them write to me once about evicting Bangladeshis and Rohingyas I will do it. You cannot talk about it only in election speeches. When there is a debate in Parliament who takes their sides? Every one has watched on live television,”said Shah.

Owaisi also hit back immediately. “He is the first minister in history who needs an MP’s letter to do his job. His own party created these imaginary illegal intruders in Hyderabad and now he wants my approval to go after them? Like ‘400k termites’ in Assam they exist only in Shah’s childish imagination and only for election,” tweeted Owaisi.

Mr Shah accused the AIMIM chief of entering a secret understanding with TRS while denying an alliance publicly.

“You have a secret pact with Majlis (AIMIM). We are not against it. In democracy any body can ally but why do you resort to such secrecy? Why don’t you have the guts to do it openly? Why do you say ILU, ILU (I love you) in closed doors and share seats?” he said.

He took a dig at chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for not going to Secretariat and hence unaware of the statistics. Approximately the Centre has given Rs 500 crore for the purpose of flood relief.

“We want to free Hyderabad from all those who had made it a mission to go to Pakistan, the Nizami culture and provide a developed city.” He said no election was considered small those who are talking about galli (bylanes) election have forgotten to clean them and hence facing a problem. He also dismissed the chief minister’s proposed political front saying that the last time Chandrasekhar Rao went around to other states he lost half of his seats.

Earlier in the day Shah had visited the Bhagyalakshmi Temple beside the Charminar and took part in a road show at Secunderabad.