AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has often been a sharp critic of the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, taking positions against the party on several national issues both inside and outside Parliament.
Yet Telangana presents a strikingly different political equation: Owaisi and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy have evolved into tactical political allies, despite their past differences. The public endorsement came amid Revanth Reddy facing an internal revolt within his party and his sacking of minister Konda Surekha from his cabinet. Owaisi’s comment is seen as political posturing and a message to those projecting the Chief Minister as weak. Congress and AIMIM remain adversaries at the national level, but in Telangana their relationship is increasingly defined by tactical pragmatism.
Owaisi has previously attacked Revanth Reddy, even urging former chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao to confront him politically.
But now with the Congress in power in the state, the equation has changed. For Revanth Reddy, Owaisi’s support can strengthen his position among Muslim voters and in Hyderabad; for Owaisi, the equation provides political access and influence under the Congress government.
During the 2023 Assembly poll campaign, while Owaisi called him “RSS-Anna” and urged voters to stay away from Congress, Revanth Reddy had called the Hyderabad MP the “B team of BJP”.
