Bharatiya Janata Party National President Amit Shah on Sunday attacked the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led government in Telangana for not taking action against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Akbaruddin Owaisi for an alleged hate speech. Assembly elections will be held in the state on December 7 and the results declared on December 11.

At a rally in Nirmal district in Telangana, Shah claimed that the AIMIM was a “Razakars party” which Rao is afraid of, PTI reported. The Razakars were a private militia formed by the Nizamate of Hyderabad to resist the integration of the state into the Union of India following Independence.

“This is the land where Akbaruddin Owaisi gave a speech [in 2012],” Shah said. “He insulted Hindu gods. There was also a case against him. But this Telangana Rashtra Samithi government failed to take action against him.” The BJP chief was referring to speeches Owaisi made in Nirmal and Nizamabad in December 2012, for which he was later arrested and let out on bail.

Shah claimed that Rao had not announced celebrations for Hyderabad Liberation Day on September 17 because he was afraid of the “Razakars party”. The Indian government had resorted to police action, codenamed Operation Polo, on September 17, 1948, to merge Hyderabad state into the Indian Union.

The BJP chief said that while Rao had no time to visit the families of the victims of the Kondagattu bus accident, which killed 57, he finds time to “eat biryani” with the Owaisi brothers.

At another rally in Parkala in Warangal district, Shah condemned the resolution passed by the Telangana legislature to increase the reservation for Muslims in jobs and education from 4% to 12%, IANS reported. He said that if the BJP came to power, there would no reservation based on religion.

Shah also claimed that the BJP will not allow other parties to implement such quota. He said the reservation is “unconstitutional” because the Supreme Court has fixed a ceiling of 50%.

Congress attacks Rao

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi claimed that if the party came to power in Telangana, it would launch an investigation into the “wrongdoings” of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government, PTI reported. He said four Ks – KCR, as Rao is known, his son and minister KT Rama Rao, daughter and parliamentarian K Kavitha and “kutumb” (family) have looted the state.