Hyderabad: BJP state president N Ramchander Rao on Monday took exception to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi‘s call for separate Muslim leadership, asking why such a demand was needed when chief minister A Revanth Reddy had himself declared, “Muslims are Congress, Congress is Muslims.“Reacting to Owaisi’s recent remarks, Rao said it was contradictory to claim that Muslims lacked leadership when several Muslim leaders were already part of the Congress party. If, as Revanth stated, the Congress stood firmly with Muslims, there was no basis for demanding a separate political leadership, he said. He accused Owaisi of raising divisive issues for political mileage and urged him to stop making provocative statements. Owaisi’s comments have stirred political debate in Telangana after he said every social group in India — OBCs, SCs, BCs and Patels — had leadership, while Muslims did not. Addressing a public meeting during the West Bengal assembly election campaign, Owaisi said Muslims were being reduced to mere voters and called for the emergence of independent political leadership.
