Bengaluru, (DHNS): The ruling Congress has gone into a tizzy with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) deciding to enter the fray in the 2018 Assembly election.

AIMIM, which has been eyeing Muslim votes across the country, could eat into the Congress' Muslim vote base. To remedy that, the Congress has planned forging an alliance or reaching a tacit understanding with Owaisi. It is learnt that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has tasked Chamarajpet legislator B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan with this responsibility. Khan is slated to join the Congress by ditching the JD(S).

Owaisi, however, seems to be playing his cards close to the chest. While he confirmed that the ruling Congress, specifically Zameer Ahmed Khan, was attempting to reach out to him, he was not forthcoming on his party's stand on the Congress' offer. "Zameer Ahmed Khan had sent some persons seeking a meeting with me," Owaisi, who represents Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha told DH.

He said his party was yet to decide the number of seats it will contest in the upcoming election. "Our state unit headed by Usman Ghani is working everything out. Our leaders are holding discussions to identify segments where we should field candidates," he said.

The firebrand leader is also miffed with Khan. "All these days, Khan was critical of me. I have seen videos of him censuring me. But, he wants to meet me now that he's moving to the Congress," Owaisi said. "I told people who came to me that Khan should first decide what he really wants."

Khan was, however, unavailable for comments.

Owaisi has been critical of the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government for "not allowing me to address a public meeting in Karnataka."

In the 2015 BBMP elections, the AIMIM fielded 29 candidates mostly in Muslim-dominated pockets of the central, southern and northern parts of Bengaluru. The party won 29 out of the 78 seats it contested in the recent Uttar Pradesh municipal polls. It won 11 seats in the Nanded Municipal Corporation polls in 2012 and emerged as the second-largest party in the Aurangabad civil polls with 26 seats in 2015.

Smaller parties such as the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) are another cause of concern for the Congress as they can potentially split Muslim votes further. The SDPI, for instance, has won 72 seats in the gram panchayat elections. It polled 15% of the votes in the BBMP elections and managed to wrest the Siddapura ward from the Congress.

There are 25-26 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka where Muslim votes are the deciding factor, according to political analyst Harish Ramaswamy. "If the AIMIM enters in a big way, coupled with smaller parties polarising votes, the Congress certainly stands to lose," he said.