ADILABAD: In a sensational claim, AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday night claimed that former Congress MLA A Maheshwar Reddy offered him Rs 25 lakh to cancel his public meetings in Nirmal constituency.
Speaking from the very place he was allegedly bribed to not visit, Owaisi said that Congress leader Rama Rao Pawar, calling on behalf of Maheshwar Reddy, called MIM leader Jaber Ahmed, offering him the `25 lakh for the party fund. Owaisi claimed he had an audio recording of this conversation to prove it. Holding up his phone to the crowd, he declared, “I cannot be bought by anyone.” Reddy has categorically denied the allegation. This audio clipping was later on Tuesday released by the party on the internet and has since gone viral on social media.
Meanwhile, Maheshwar Reddy slammed Owaisi and asked him to produce proof to substantiate his claims. “I challenge him (Owaisi) to release the proof in the public domain. If he fails at this, he should quit politics,” he said. He then moved on to attack former minister and Nirmal MLA from Telangana Rashtra Samithi, A Indrakaran Reddy, for bringing Owaisi to the constituency to woo Muslim votes. Claiming that TRS and AIMIM were working together, he said, “Indrakaran Reddy has been unable to woo Muslims in Nirmal, so he asked Owaisi to campaign for him.”
Audio goes viral
The audio clipping seems to be a conversation between Nirmal MIM district president Jabbar Ahmed and Congress’ candidate for Mudhole, Rama Rao Patel.Patel can be heard offering `25 lakh to Jabbar, asking him to convince MIM president Owaisi to cancel his meeting in Nirmal. Ahmed can be heard saying no multiple times and saying ‘I can’t do anything.’
GVL Rao claims Owaisi, Rahul are ‘bhai-bhai’
Hyderabad: BJP MP and national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao levelled serious allegations against the Congress for offering `25 lakh to AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi.Speaking at a press conference, Rao said, “Asaduddin Owaisi has said that he has been offered `25 lakh from the Congress. It suggests that Owaisi and AICC president Rahul Gandhi are bhai-bhai.”“Owaisi has made the offer amount public because he might have asked for more,” he alleged.He said the matter will be taken up with the Election Commission (EC) to initiate a probe and bring the truth to light.