Bangalore: The decision of the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) to contest the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections seems to have rattled the ruling Congress.

As a large chunk of Muslims is believed to be traditional voters of the Congress, the entry of the AIMIM is being seen as a threat to the party in nearly 40 of Karnataka's 224 seats.

With the AIMIM ready to contest at least 60 seats in the elections scheduled for April next year, the Congress has started backroom manoeuvres to minimise the damage.

Party sources said the Congress had deputed B.Z. Zameer Ahmed, a Janata Dal (Secular) rebel MLA who is set to join the ruling party, to hold talks with the AIMIM to work out a possible solution.

State Congress working president Dinesh Gundu Rao told The Telegraph that "there was nothing official".

"He (Ahmed) might be talking to (AIMIM president Asaduddin) Owaisi in his personal capacity," Rao said, adding the Congress would not want to have any truck with a "communal" party like the AIMIM.

The AIMIM seems to be in no mood to listen to the Congress, which it accused of using Muslims as a "vote bank".

"What has the Congress done for Muslims? They treat us only as a vote bank," said Mohammed Ibrahim, Bangalore city president of the AIMIM who handles the party's state affairs.

Muslims make up 18 per cent of Karnataka's population and the minority community wields considerable influence in Bangalore, Mysore, northern districts such as Gulbarga and Bidar, and Dakshina Kannada in the south.

"We have decided to field 60 candidates in Muslim-dominated areas. In Bangalore alone, we will contest eight (of the 28) seats," Ibrahim told this newspaper.

Asked if splitting the Muslim votes would end up helping the BJP, Ibrahim said: "We have our own formula to avoid that possibility." "Wherever we contest, we will ensure that the BJP does not win. We are even open to alliances with parties other than the Congress and the BJP," he said.

On whether the JDS was an option, Ibrahim said: "Maybe, maybe not."

The JDS, led by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, also gets a considerable amount of Muslim votes.

But Ibrahim's predecessor Syed Tabrez, who has joined the Congress, is of the view that the AIMIM does not have any chance of winning seats in Karnataka. However, the main issue the Congress needs to worry about is the AIMIM's potential to split Muslim votes, Tabrez cautioned.

"I have been in that party for several years and I know their strengths and weaknesses. But being a new entrant, they might get some support from Muslims at the cost of the Congress," he said."With a little effort, the AIMIM can win a good number of seats as it holds sway in 38 Assembly constituencies. Although theoretically the AIMIM can cause a dent in the Congress vote bank, my assessment is that Muslims will be careful enough not to waste their votes," said political analyst and veteran columnist Mahadev Prakash.

"They are already safe in the hands of the Congress government. So I don't think they will commit hara kiri by voting for some Muslim parties and spoiling the chances of the Congress," Prakash added.