New Delhi: Lashing out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, former cricketer and Congress leader Mohammed Azharuddin said the Owaisi-led party cannot win since it cuts votes and serves as the B-team of BRS and BJP in Telangana, news agency PTI reported. Azharuddin, who has led India in 47 Tests and 174 ODIs, said AIMIM is not capable of bowling bouncers. The former India captain and Jubilee Hills Congress candidate also exuded confidence of winning from his home turf and said he is playing on front foot and when the ball is there for the hook, he hits it “off the back foot”.
Speaking about his poll agenda, Azharuddin said he has mainly focused on development, drainage problems and water supply issues.
Talking about AIMIM fielding its candidate from Jubilee hills, Azharuddin, in an interview with PTI, said, “They are doing what they have been doing for so many years. There is nothing new about it. Their only job is to cut votes and they are very happy with that, they derive satisfaction from that.”
Asked if he can negotiate the “bouncers” that the AIMIM might throw at him, the former cricketer said, “AIMIM is not capable of bowling bouncers. They cannot become a cricketer. I am a cricketer and a politician both, they must remember that.”
Azharuddin’s political career started after his win from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad Lok Sabha seat in 2009. In 2014, he lost from Rajasthan's Tonk-Sawai Madhopur and has now entered the Telangana electoral contest for the first time after Congress fielded him from the Jubilee Hills seat.
The Jubilee Hills constituency in the Secunderabad Lok Sabha segment is home to over one lakh Muslim voters.
Congress’s Azharuddin is set to face a tough contest from BRS' sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath and AIMIM’s Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin.
Polling for the 119-member Telangana assembly is set to take place on November 30 and results will be declared on December 3.