Asaduddin Owaisi versus? After BJP, Congress considers first-time woman candidate

AFTER THE BJP, the Congress too appears to be veering towards a first-time woman candidate to take on AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, which he has been winning since 2004. The parties believe their candidates can seize on the “anti-incumbency” against the MP and pose a challenge.

Sources in the Congress said that the party has finalised the name of Supreme Court lawyer Shahnaz Tabassum, the wife of Telangana Waqf Board CEO Syed Khaja Moinuddin, from the seat. The BJP earlier announced K Madhavi Latha, the chairperson of Virinchi Hospitals in the city, as its candidate.

Owaisi is one of the toughest contestants to beat in this Lok Sabha elections, given his influence in the area. In the 2019 polls, he had defeated the BJP’s Bhagavanth Rao Pawar by a massive margin of 2.82 lakh votes.

Telangana Congress leaders say Tabassum can reach out to “voters looking for a change”. She is also the founder and national president of the All India Azad Congress Party, an unregistered political party that has not contested polls so far.

The BJP is counting on Latha drawing support as she is a local, having grown up in the Yakutpura area of Hyderabad and her work among the people there, including the Muslim community. Associated with the RSS for a while, Latha has campaigned extensively in the area against triple talaq. Her speeches on the subject, along with interviews on alleged “mistreatment of children in madrasas” and “encroachment of temples”, are popular on social media.

Party sources said that “her image as a staunch Hindu woman” could help her in the Hindu pockets of the Muslim-dominated constituency. The party also thinks she would be able to draw support from women “who are looking for an alternative