Congress is expecting some prominent Muslim leaders to join the party in the presence of AICC president Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Charminar on October 20 to participate in the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Yatra.
TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy along with AICC secretary incharge for Telangana R.C. Khuntia met Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi on Wednesday apparently to discuss the same. Mr. Reddy flew back to Hyderabad on Wednesday itself.
Strong influence
Mr. Azad has strong influence on the Muslim leaders and also the community even in Telangana given his long stint here as the AICC general secretary incharge of the combined Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Azad is apparently playing a keyrole in bringing the influential leaders into Congress fold.
Ever since the MIM extended its open support to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the ensuing elections, Congress is determined to make a dent into the MIM’s stronghold, the old city and is wooing prominent Muslims leaders with good image among Muslims.
‘Welcomed by Muslims’
“The Muslims are annoyed that MIM is supporting the TRS despite knowing that the latter has a secret understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Now they want to support Congress that has given them 4% reservations in education and jobs,” said a senior leader.
“In fact, recently a prominent family with strong business backing has asked the Congress leaders to visit their house to send a message to the MIM that Muslims can’t be taken for granted by that party.”
In fact, the party has been at loggerheads with the MIM ever since the GHMC elections. Now it wants to ‘expose’ the MIM saying that all its political decisions had actually benefitted the BJP more than MIM or its friendly parties. In fact, some minority leaders of Congress had blasted the MIM and its chief Asaduddin Owaisi claiming that he was supporting the TRS for securing prime land in the city for trusts and institutions owned by his family members.