‘If I signal…’ AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi threatens police inspector

HYDERABAD: All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi’s brother, Akbaruddin Owaisi on Tuesday openly threatened a police inspector who was asking him to follow model code of conduct in place for the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

Akbaruddin Owaisi threatened the policeman after he was asked to stop his speech as he was exceeding the time as per the Model Code of Conduct.

The AIMIM leader who was addressing a campaign in Hyderabad’s Lalitabagh asked the policeman to “leave” the venue, implying that if he made a “signal” to his supporters, the inspector would be forced to “run” from the place.

“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,” Owaisi said.

Notably, Akbaruddin is an assembly poll candidate from the Chandrayangutta constituency. The seat has been a stronghold of the AIMIM, with the party winning from this segment in the last two Assembly elections — in 2014 and 2018.

Telangana will go to polls in a single phase on November 30. The counting of votes for Telangana, along with those of four other poll-bound states, has been scheduled for December 3. The state is set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, the ruling BRS and the Congress.

In the previous Assembly election in 2018, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats. (ANI)