Just 15 secs enough, Telangana BJP leader's swipe at Akbar; take 1 hr: Asaduddin Owaisi

HYDERABAD: Igniting a fresh controversy over AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi's "if police are removed for 15 minutes" remark, made 11 years ago, Maharashtra BJP leader and former Telugu actress Navneet Kaur Rana on Wednesday retorted, saying "it will take us only 15 seconds" while campaigning for party candidate K Madhavi Latha in Hyderabad constituency.
Rana's remarks prompted a backlash from AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi. Slamming Rana, he told reporters on Thursday, "I'm telling (PM Narendra) Modi ji. Give her the 15 seconds... give her an hour even. We too want to see what they could do. Who is scared? We are ready."
Referring to Akbaruddin's speech at Nirmal in 2013 in which he said that if police are removed for 15 minutes his community would show 100 crore Hindus what they could do, Rana said at a poll meeting in Champapet, "Akbaruddin said remove police for 15 minutes, so that they can show what they can do... I want to tell him, it might take you 15 minutes but it will take us only 15 seconds."
Not stopping at that, Rana, who is seeking re-election from Amravati, went on to say that Latha will win and "prevent Hyderabad from becoming another Pakistan."
Claiming that anyone voting for Congress or AIMIM would be indirectly voting for Pakistan, she said: "Pakistan shows love for AIMIM and Rahul Gandhi. Congress ruled this country on the directions of Pakistan." Rana later posted a 39-second video clip of her remarks on her X social media handle and also tagged the Owaisi brothers.
Latha was embroiled in a controversy last month during a Ram Navami rally in Hyderabad when she pretended to shoot an arrow while her campaign van was passing by a mosque.
Owaisi condemned her gesture and termed it as "provocative and vulgar."
Meanwhile, chief minister and TPCC president A Revanth Reddy has demanded the arrest of Rana for making a communal statement intended at disturbing peace and harmony in Hyderabad.
"PM Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah should take note of the communal statement that the BJP leader has made and dismiss her from the party," he said.
He said the religious politics of the BJP was detrimental to the interests of people and that the inflammatory utterances of the BJP MP were clearly 'poisonous' in nature.