Claiming that he has been getting death threats since he visited the house of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who died of a cardiac arrest late last month, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has said he is not a chicken ("main koi murgi ka bachha nahin hoon") and will not be scared so easily.
"Since I went to Mukhtar Ansari's house in Uttar Pradesh, all these people who are pretending to be strong started saying on social media that they will kill me. If you want to kill me, do it. If it is not my time, I won't die; and if it is, I certainly will. I want to tell all these evil forces, I am no chicken ('main koi murgi ka bachha nahin hoon'). You handle what comes next," the four-time MP from Hyderabad, who is contesting from the same seat this time, said in Hindi.
"I am not going to go away so easily. I will not show you my back. I will remain standing whether you or anyone else comes to attack me," he thundered.
Mr Owaisi had gone to Ansari's house in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur on March 31, three days after his death, and paid tribute to the gangster-turned-politician, who was a five-time MLA and had been in prison since 2005. Ansari's family has claimed he was given poison in his food while in jail, but a postmortem report has said cardiac arrest was the cause of death. A judicial inquiry has now been ordered.
Responding to the AIMIM chief's claim of death threats, the BJP's Madhavi Latha, who is contesting against him in Hyderabad, said there is no proof that the people issuing the threats are not from his own party.
"How is he getting these threats? Has anything happened to him? How do I know that his own people are not issuing threats to him on social media? They are the ones who are known to attack others. People need security from them... He (Mr Owaisi) has friendships with people like Mukhtar Ansari, and he wants security," Ms Latha said.
All 17 Lok Sabha constituencies will go to the polls in a single phase on May 13. Counting will be held on June 4.
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