Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma lashed out at Akbaruddin Owaisi for allegedly threatening a police official in Hyderabad. A senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), CM Sarma said that the matter would have been settled within "five minutes" if it had happened in Assam.
The matter pertains to the booking of Akbaruddin Owaisi, the brother of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday for openly threatening a policeman who asked him to follow the model code of conduct for the assembly polls.
The Assam CM said, "If this had happened in Assam, the matter would have been settled within five minutes. Due to appeasement politics in Telangana, neither BRS nor Congress is saying anything...If you can openly threaten the police, then people will feel threatened."
He also urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to "cancel" the candidature of Akbaruddin Owaisi.
Earlier, the DCP South East zone, Rohit Raju, had informed that a case was registered against Akbaruddin Owaisi. He said, "The case has been booked under section 353 (obstructing official duties) IPC and other relevant sections."
Meanwhile, Akbaruddin reacted to the FIR against him saying, "DCP and police are lying. Firstly, I have video footage of him (a police officer) coming onto the stage. If I give a speech after 10 pm, then police can book me under the law. But obstructing a public meeting and saying that time is up is wrong. Police should not do this."
It may be noted that the AIMIM leader, while addressing a campaign in Hyderabad's Lalitbagh, asked the policeman to leave the venue, implying that the cop would be forced to run from the place if he made a signal to his supporters.
Akbaruddin had said, "Do you think that after facing knives and bullets, I got weak, still there's lots of courage in me. Five minutes are left and I'll address five minutes, no one can stop me. If I give a signal then you'll have to run, shall we make him run? This is what I'm saying they come like this to weaken us."
Coming to his brother's defence, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that the official should not have intervened as "five minutes" remained for the campaign time to be over for the day.
The Chandrayangutta constituency, which has bee a stronghold of the AIMIM since 2014, is where Akbaruddin will be contesting from. AIMIM won there in 2014 and 2018.
Telangana is headed to assembly elections and is all set to vote on November 30. The counting of votes will take place on December 3.
