Mumbai: An old video claiming that Akbaruddin Owaisi, senior All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader and younger brother of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, had met Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah back in 2015 and struck a deal to incite communal passions has resurfaced.
In the video widely shared on the social media sites, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shows a letter sent to him by Yatin Oza - a senior advocate from Gujarat who is said to be very close to BJP President Amit Shah.
Reading out the content of the letter, Kejriwal said Akbaruddin Owaisi and Amit Shah had a "secret" meeting in the month of September - just two months before the Bihar assembly elections in November 2015.
"The meeting took place at the residence of Amit Shah at 03:00 am on September 15, 2015. Yatin Oza says he too was present in that meeting", Kejriwal said in the video posted on March 22, 2017.
"A detailed discussion took place and it was agreed that AIMIM will field its candidates in the Muslim dominated areas of Bihar state. It was also decided that Owaisi will omit (sic) poisonous communal speeches the script of which will be written by Amit Shah and which may have potential to divide voters on communal lines.
"It was decided in the meeting that the BJP and AIMIM will work as strong opponents in front of the public. But, Owaisi will speak only on dotted lines as decided by the BJP", Kejriwal said reading from Yatin Oza's letter.
"Owaisi will take a strong communal line and his speeches will create an atmposphere of hatred resulting in communal tension", Kejriwal read from the letter.
The video had first appeared in July 2016 following which the AIMIM, while denying any such meeting ever took place, reportedly sent a legal notice to Yatin Oza seeking apology from him. More than 1 and half year old video resurfaced ahead of the Telangana assembly elections where the AIMIM is struggling to retain its strenght in the earlier house.
Interestingly, in the midst of this video being widely circulated in Hyderabad and around, Akbaruddin Owaisi tried to play a victim card by claiming "threat to his life" - an old tactic by politicians to win support of voters.
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