Owaisi stings Congress with 'cash-for-votes II' at Nirmal

HYDERABAD: Fresh cash-for-votes allegations have hit Telangana just ahead of the assembly elections of December 7, with All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi alleging that his party was offered Rs 25 lakh for not holding a rally in Nirmal district headquarters.

Addressing a meeting in Nirmal on Monday night, Owaisi said he had an audio recording of one of his local leaders being offered bribe by a Congress leader. Though Owaisi did not name anyone, crowds shouted out the name of Congress candidate from Nirmal, A Maheshwar Reddy. The Congress has since denied the charge and accused AIMIM of acting as a proxy of the BJP.

The audio clip of the conversation, allegedly between Congress's Mudhole candidate Rama Rao Pawar Patil and AIMIM Bhainsa municipal vice-chairman Jabiar Ahmed, has been circulated widely on social media. In the clip, a man who identifies himself as Rama Rao, says Maheshwar had come to him and made a request to cancel the AIMIM rally. He then offers to pay him "25".

Reacting to Owaisi, Maheshwar told local reporters he had made no such offer. "I will quit politics if the MIM chief can prove his claim," he said.