Hyderabad: MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday said his party stayed away from the TRS-YSR Congress backed No-Confidence Motion in the Assembly since it was an exercise in futility and the parties lacked the requisite strength to bring down the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.

“MIM is with the spirit of the motion, but the motion is an exercise in futility because it doesn’t reflect the strength and responsibility of the political parties,” he said.

In fact, the political parties that brought in the Motion were playing into the hands of the government by enabling it to claim falsely that it represents the mood of the people, he said. He asserted that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government has to go and there is no change in the MIM stand against it in the state and the UPA at the Centre, since his party severed ties with the Congress last November.

He called it a lame duck government that would be brought down by the people in the 2014 general election. But the present No-Confidence Motion would only help the BJP and its political agenda of making Narendra Modi the prime minister.

Mr Owaisi said the MIM cannot stand with a communal party like the BJP in the No-Confidence Motion and expressed surprise at the YSR Congress doing so.

Analysing the Motion, he said the TD did not bring in the No-Confidence Motion because it believes that “if the government is brought down now, it will not help them (TD) politically. They feel that their position is improving and they can become relevant after 12 months.”

He said the TRS moved the Motion because it has a single point agenda of creation of Telangana. But it must understand that Telangana cannot be given by the state Assembly. but by the Union Government.

“A No-Confidence Motion should have been brought in the Lok Sabha. The BJP would have backed them,” he said. The YSRC backed the No-Confidence Motion because its leaders feel the time is right for them and they will gain politically from the present crisis.

“We feel that if a Motion is brought, it has to be brought in such a way that this government falls,” Mr Owaisi said.

He explained that the rules of parliament are clear that if a no-confidence motion fails, no such motion can be moved again in the next six months.

The no-confidence motion will only help the BJP to get the maximum seats from Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. “Anyone who gets 30 seats in Andhra Pradesh and 25 to 30 in

Uttar Pradesh will form the next government at the Centre. The BJP plans to ensure 30 seats in UP and 30 seats in Andhra Pradesh,” Mr Owaisi said. Citing media reports, he said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi planned to address a public meeting in Hyderabad jointly with the TRS. “We should be wary about it.”

“This is the first time in the history of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly that the main opposition party did not give notice on the no-confidence motion and the parties that gave notice lacked strength,” he remarked.

“The Kiran Kumar Reddy government has failed on various fronts and has adopted an anti-people stance, burdened the common man with hikes in bus fares, and power tariffs to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore, and proposes to impose another Rs 12,271 crore in 2013-2014. It has hiked VAT, motor vehicle tax, failed on the law and order front and failed to make Hyderabad a peaceful city,” he charged.

Referring to the gruesome bomb blasts at Dilsukhnagar, which killed 17 people and injured many others, he said, “It’s very worrisome that despite three specific alerts, the government did not take notice, according to media reports.”

He criticised the habit of picking on innocent Muslim men when bomb blasts occur. “The same Muslim youth exonerated in the Mecca Masjid blast and Lumbini Park blast, and given good character certificates by this government, and Rs 3 lakh in compensation, were picked up by the police again. Only the modus operandi has changed: the boys were picked up in the morning, tortured in the afternoon, and let off in the evening,” he said.