A fierce battle is expected in next month's election in the urban Karwan Assembly between religious rivals the BJP and the Majlis Ittehadul-e-Muslimeen (MIM) which clearly has its share of local issues.

None of these however will mean anything when the local people vote, with only the communal agenda that will be decisive in the end.

The BJP's Baddam Balreddy won here three consecutive times between 1985 and 1994, his wins broken only by Syed Sajjad of the MIM in 1999.

The MIM first won in 1983 when its candidate, Baqar Agha, defeated Congress' Shivlal. The MIM won in 1999 after Balreddy contested the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat and lost.

In 1985 Balreddy won by a margin of 13,000 votes, but subsequently the margins were reduced to just 3,000. In 1999 when Sajjad won, the margin jumped to 13,542 votes, gaining 8,325 votes against 64,783 by the BJPs G. Kishan Reddy.

Even when the BJP controlled Karwan, the MIM was recovering lost ground fast. This is clear from the way the MIMs MP, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, won the 1996 Lok Sabha election, getting 7,000 votes more than the BJP's Venkaiah Naidu in the Karwan Assembly segment. While the BJP has activists committed strongly to it in Karwan, the MIM relies on the performance of its corporators, as the Assembly segment consists of ward 9, 12 and 13 with a total of 10 corporators, eight of whom belong to the MIM and only two to the BJP.

The municipal divisions of Langar House, Golconda East, Golconda West, Karwan, Sitarambagh, Asifnagar, Muradnagar and Aghapura are areas won by the MIM corporators, while Jiaguda and Mehdipatnam divisions are represented by the BJP.

While the BJP is certain to field Balreddy once again, the MIM candidate could be from among the former legislator, Virasat Rasool Khan or, the MIMs executive members, Majeed Khan and Afsar Khan. The Telugu Desam Party will as usual to support its ally, the BJP. Perhaps only the Majlis Bachao Tehreekm which met on Sunday to discuss its own strategy, could distrurb the MIMs current good run in Karwan.

"Yes. There were some internal wrangles which led to the alliance's defeat by the MIM. This time, we have taken it up as a challenge to win back the seat," the city BJP president, Venkata Ramani, told Gulf News here.