Published Mar 01, 2026 | 11:31 AM ⚊ Updated Mar 01, 2026 | 11:31 AM
Telangana Congress leaders with Rahul Gandhi.
Synopsis: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is understood to have advised the Telangana Congress to maintain a safe distance from the AIMIM. However, it has put the Telangana Congress in a dilemma on whether to field a second candidate for the upcoming election to the Rajya Sabha.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is understood to have advised the Telangana Congress to maintain a safe distance from the All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Gandhi’s advice came during his recent interaction with top state Congress leaders, including Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Mahesh Goud, and several ministers.
His suggestion stemmed from two reasons:
1. Congress leaders, as also those belonging to the INDIA bloc, believe that post-2014, AIMIM has become more or less a B-Team of the BJP and therefore having any understanding with them is detrimental to the interests of Congress.
2. Gandhi believes that working closely with AIMIM will give rise to the growth of the BJP in the minority dominated Telangana, where the saffron party, primarily riding on Hindutva sentiments, has won eight out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in 2024. “Any association with AIMIM will bite us badly”, was how Gandhi presented his concerns in the meeting.
A recent video of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge referring to a “pareshani” (trouble) in Hyderabad may be seen in this context. While speaking privately to some supporters outside the parliament, Mallikarjun Kharge was caught on camera referring to a Hyderabad-based leader, assumed to be Asaduddin Owaisi.
“Don’t let him come. He will come once and will be finished afterwards. He is from a regional party, not a national party. But once he comes, he will finish us off. There are three things in Hyderabad, do you know? First is Sherwani, second Biryani, and third is pareshani,” Kharge is seen saying in the video.
Over several recent elections, the AIMIM, which was confined to Telangana for several decades, fielded candidates in Bihar, Maharashtra and elsewhere. The Congress and other Opposition parties have been seeing this as a move to split minority votes and thereby help the BJP.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has, however, repeatedly asserted his party’s right to expand beyond the home state, and refused to buy the argument that it was meant to help the BJP.
Curiously, in the most recent by-election held in Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency in Hyderabad, the AIMIM extended open support to the Congress candidate who eventually won by a margin of 25,000 votes over the BRS nominee.
With Gandhi’s latest directive, the Telangana Congress is now in a dilemma on whether to field a second candidate for the upcoming election to the Rajya Sabha to fill two seats falling vacant in the state.
While the party has more or less decided to renominate senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the choice regarding the second seat has yet to be decided.
Several senior Congress leaders are interested in the second seat despite speculation that former Supreme Court judge Justice Sudarshan Reddy is likely to be considered. He was the INDIA bloc’s Vice-Presidential candidate.
In the 119-member Assembly, each candidate needs 41 votes to win. In other words, Congress needs 82 votes if it is to secure both seats.
The election is likely to be unanimous only in the event of the Opposition BRS not putting up a candidate.
In such a scenario, numbers do not matter. But if the BRS, currently discussing its strategy for the Rajya Sabha poll, puts up a candidate, the fight will be tough and could potentially boil down to second-preferential votes.
The Congress’s current strength in the Assembly is only 66, after two seats were added to its tally in the bypolls. Its ally, the CPI, has one seat.
Even assuming the nine “turncoat” BRS MLAs vote for the Congress’s second candidate, the number would still be 76 and short of the required strength. Hence, the support of AIMIM, which has 7 MLAs, becomes crucial.
Now, with Gandhi’s opposition to AIMIM, top Congress leaders are mulling the course to be adopted if it has to win two seats without AIMIM support.
One emerging view is that Sudarshan Reddy, a hardcore Telanganite, may contest as an independent candidate seeking support from all parties without the tag of being a Congress nominee. Whether the BRS will support him is doubtful.
As far as the BRS is concerned, the thinking seems to be that fielding a candidate will help the party place the nine defected MLAs in a tight spot. Defiance of the party whip could potentially land them in trouble.
With some of them already indicating their willingness to return to BRS leadership, it is more than possible that they could potentially vote for a BRS nominee if it fields a candidate.
BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao has been holding discussions with senior party leaders at his residence, and a decision regarding the Rajya Sabha polls is expected in the next couple of days.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
