Hyderabad: The United Shia Muslims Forum (USMF), Telangana, has written to the Congress high command and the state leadership to accommodate leaders from its community into the new Congress government in Telangana. The USMF has asked both ex-All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to allocate one MLC seat under the Governor’s quota, and chairmanship of other minority institutions for better representation.
In his letter to ex-All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi and Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy, USMF state president Ali Shabber stated that in spite of “vociferous” to the Congress in the November 30 Assembly elections, the party did not field a single Shia candidate amongst the five Muslim nominees. All five of them were Sunnis. It has been learnt that Shia leaders from the community are also currently in Delhi to discuss the with Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge.
”To sum the above, it is earnestly requested to at least accommodate Shia persons in suitable positions and we assure to come up with overwhelming support for the party in ensuing Lok Sabha elections, prominently in hydra, bad, Secunderabad, Malkajgiri, and Chevella Parliamentary constituencies, where we have a considerable presence in the form of voters. As a quick ready reference, we state that there are two vacant MLC positions under Governor quota, one of which may be given to a Congress member from Shia community and also representative Member or Directly in the various corporations of minorities such as Minorities Finance Corporation, Hajj Committee, Urdu Academy…”, stated Shabber’s letter to the Congress leadership.
The USMF letter also stated that the Shia community of Telangana will back the Congress wholeheartedly in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections next year. It is estimated that Shias occupying about 15% of the total Muslim population in the state. Muslims in general account for an estimated 12.5% percent of the state’s total four crore population.
Though the Congress managed to win the Assembly elections with a comfortable victory bagging 64 out of 119 seats, none of its five Muslim candidates were able to win. One of them was former captain of the Indian cricket team Mohd Azharuddin, who also lost the Jubilee Hills seat in Hyderabad by a small margin. The Congress was also unsuccessful against the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which managed to retain all of its seven seats in Hyderabad that it has been winning since 2009. Even ex-minister Shabbir Ali, who contested from the Nizamabad (urban) seat, lost.
In the ensuing results on December 3, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi lost as it won 39 seats, down from its 2018 tally of 88. The AIMIM retained its seven seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)managed to win from 8 constituencies, seven more than its 2018 tally of just one seat.
