HYDERABAD: Towards the end of an uncharacteristically toned-down public meeting on Sunday, AIMIM Chandrayangutta candidate Akbaruddin Owaisi glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearing 10 pm. Realising that he would be violating the model code of conduct if he droned on, he said: “I am yet to say a lot of things about the chaiwala, but I am not well today. I am in pain. I will speak tomorrow,” Owaisi said clutching his stomach.
Akbaruddin sustained a bullet injury to his abdomen in 2011 when assailants opened fired on him. To this day, the bullet remains lodged near his kidney as doctors warn its removal may affect his legs. Though he has been undergoing treatment, the pain will not wear off. Has this affected his elections campaign? Seemingly not, as Akbaruddin is confident of winning Chandrayangutta for the fifth time since 1999. In the 2014 Assembly elections, Akbaruddin had garnered an enormous 80,355 votes, as opposed to the runner up at 20,000 votes—his highest margin in all elections. He has turned the attack on him and his injury into a formidable political weapon. He makes it a point to reiterate in each of his public rallies how he was “brought back from the jaws of death by the prayers of the public”.
Akbaruddin was supposed to campaign on Monday but refrained due to ill health. He even missed the party’s annual Milad un Nabi jalsa at Darussalam.