Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar remarked that although the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) appear to be accusing each other in the Jubilee Hills by-election, both parties are actually learning political lessons from the AIMIM.
Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement that the BJP and AIMIM are one and the same, Sanjay questioned how Gandhi would now respond to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi “publicly extending support” to the Congress candidate in the Jubilee Hills by-election.
He asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party would emerge victorious in the constituency and that the voters would teach a lesson to the other parties through their ballots. He made these remarks in a post on ‘X’ on Friday.
Congress candidate meets Owaisi
Congress candidate Naveen Yadav met AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday, October 17, ahead of filing his nomination for the November 11 Jubilee Hills by-election.
Yadav was accompanied by Congress leader and former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin, who had unsuccessfully contested from the same constituency in the 2023 Assembly elections.
Speaking after the meeting, Hyderabad MP Owaisi said the BRS had represented Jubilee Hills for 10 years but failed to ensure the constituency’s development despite being in power. He noted that the area, with 3.98 lakh voters, has several slums and inadequate civic amenities across wards. “This bye-election is an opportunity to bring real development to the constituency,” he said.
Owaisi added that the bypoll became necessary only because BRS fielded Maganti Gopinath despite his ill health in 2023. Gopinath passed away in June, leading to the vacancy.
BRS has now fielded his wife, Sunitha Gopinath, while Congress has nominated Naveen Yadav, who previously contested from Jubilee Hills on an AIMIM ticket.
Owaisi also alleged that BRS votes shifted to the BJP during last year’s Lok Sabha elections and stressed the need to halt the BJP’s growth in Jubilee Hills, which falls under the Secunderabad parliamentary constituency. He said he advised Yadav to unite all communities to ensure victory.
Naveen Yadav was AIMIM candidate in 2014
Naveen Yadav had first contested the Jubilee Hills seat as an AIMIM candidate in 2014, losing to BRS’s Maganti Gopinath by 9,242 votes. He ran again as an independent in 2018 but finished third.
Before the 2023 Assembly polls, Yadav joined Congress, but the party instead fielded Azharuddin, who lost to Gopinath by a margin of 16,337 votes. Gopinath secured 80,549 votes, while Azharuddin polled 64,212. BJP’s L. Deepak Reddy finished third with 25,866 votes, and AIMIM’s Rashed Farazuddin came fourth with 7,848 votes.
The BJP has decided to field Deepak Reddy again in the upcoming by-election.
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