Union Home Minister Amit Shah is in Hyderabad to campaign for local elections
Highlights
- Amit Shah is in Hyderabad to campaign for next week's municipal election
- He asked voters for "one chance" to show how BJP could change the city
- BJP has targeted this poll as a chance to get space in the southern state
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in Hyderabad on Sunday to campaign for next week's municipal election, highlighted the floods that brought the city to a standstill last month, and asked voters for "one chance" to show how the BJP could change the city for the better, and take it from "dynasty to democracy" and from "corruption to transparency".
Addressing a public rally on the final day of campaigning, Mr Shah also said the BJP wanted to "rid Hyderabad of the Nawab-Nizam culture", would not tolerate "appeasement of any community" and would ensure "no one will be a second class-citizen".
"If you give the BJP one chance, we will remove all illegal construction which blocks water exits and make sure the city never gets flooded again," he said, attacking Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, or KCR, over his government's handling of the situation.
"We follow the news as well. We did not see the Chief Minister oversee rescue operations or meet with officials or do on-ground inspections with MLAs. Where was he when Hyderabad was drowning?" Mr Shah asked.
"We will take Hyderabad and Telangana from dynasty to democracy, from corruption to transparency. No one will be a second-class citizen. There will be no appeasement of anyone," he added, before training his guns on the ruling TRS's "ilu, ilu" with Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM.
"We don't mind if the TRS is friends with AIMIM but why are they not open about it? Why do they do ilu, ilu (an abbreviation for "I love you") behind closed doors?" he asked.
The BJP has blamed an "unholy alliance" between the TRS and AIMIM, which beat either the party or an ally to five seats in the Bihar election, for Hyderabad's lack of development, accusing them of banking on votes from "Rohingya and Pakistani infiltrators".
When asked to respond to jibes by TRS leader KT Rama Rao and Mr Owaisi over these claims - that as Home Minister he needed to take action - Mr Shah said: "But they never let me take action. They create a ruckus in Parliament when we want to take action."
Hours before Mr Shah's roadshow the Chief Minister appealed to the people of Hyderabad to "save the city from divisive forces" - a reference to the BJP leaders' vitriolic attacks about the city harbouring infiltrators from Pakistan and Myanmar.
Mr Shah also took a sarcastic swipe at the Chief Minister, claiming that he had helped the BJP by his misrule. "Even KCR has helped us with the kind of rule he has given," he quipped.
"Those who called this gully (a narrow street) election forgot to clean the gully. That is why they are in trouble now," he continued, referring to the BJP unleashing an army of A-listers to campaign for what is essentially a mayoral race. Mr Shah said the BJP did not consider any election "small".
Boosted by its victory in an Assembly bypoll for the Dubbaka seat earlier this month, the BJP has targeted this election as a chance to carve out a space for itself in the southern state. In 2016 the party claimed just four of 150 seats as Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's TRS swept 99.
A strong showing in Hyderabad will help the party press its case in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where Assembly elections are due early next year.
Voting for the 150 wards will be held on December 1, with results due December 4.