The Telangana Congress unit seems to have finally woken up to the fact that it does not have a robust campaign to draw Muslim voters away from the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and AIMIM for the upcoming Assembly polls. State Congress chief A Revanth Reddy on Thursday, 17 August constituted the ‘Minorities Declaration Draft Committee’ after Muslim leaders in the party expressed their unhappiness at the lack of any concrete plans for the polls.
The 12-member committee, headed by ex-minister Shabbir Ali, is expected to formulate a list of promises for Muslims and other minorities for the upcoming polls. Other members of the committee include educationist Zafar Javed, former Indian cricket team captain Mohammad Azharuddin, and other party members like Deepak John, Uzma Shakir, and others.
“While the committee is a good idea, we need a strong plan to counter the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the BRS, especially with regard to welfare schemes,” a Muslim leader from the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) told TNM.
“Out of the 26 Greater Hyderabad Assembly seats, a handful of them have about 30% Muslim voters. In the capital city, besides Old City which is Muslim dominated, other constituencies like Jubilee Hills or Rajendranagar have about 30-40% Muslim voters who can easily influence the results. The Congress at this point has no game plan for minorities unlike the BRS, which is now a viable option for Muslims also,” the leader added.
The Muslim leaders from the Telangana Congress whom TNM spoke to were unhappy with ex-minister Shabbir Ali, who is the Muslim face of the grand old party. “Ali has lost six out of eight elections, he has no credibility among Muslims. We have represented this to the high command as well. Also, assuming that Muslims will vote for the Congress due to national politics is a mistake,” said another minority leader from the party.
One of the many state government initiatives that has impressed a section of Muslims is the ‘Shadi Mubarak’ scheme, which provides a one-time Rs 1,00,116 financial assistance to families of brides. The state’s minority residential schools, which have increased in number, add to the perception that the BRS is doing its part since the state’s formation in 2014.
Muslim voters in Telangana have traditionally been with the Congress until the BRS managed to wean them away in the previous elections in 2018 with the AIMIM’s help. While the AIMIM restricted itself to contesting from seven Assembly seats in Hyderabad, which it retained, Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM president Asaduddiin Owaisi asked Muslim voters in districts outside of Hyderabad to vote for BRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. It worked spectacularly, with the BRS winning 88 out of 119 seats.
While the AIMIM is king in the seven Hyderabad Assembly seats of Nampally, Chandrayangutta, Charminar, Bahadurpura, Yakutpura, Malakpet, and Karwan, which it has been winning since 2009, it has not had success wherever else it has contested. However, the party can easily play spoilsport if it wants to.
In the 2014 polls in Andhra Pradesh (before bifurcation), the AIMIM contested in 20 odd seats, with an unofficial understanding with the BRS. Its candidate managed to secure second place in the Nizamabad (urban) seat, where Muslims are believed to comprise a little over 20% of the electorate. AIMIM’s candidate secured 31,648 votes, allowing B Ganesh of the TRS to win with 40,947 votes. The BJP came third with 27,982 votes and the Congress secured 25,400 votes.
In the 2018 state polls, the BRS won 88 seats while the Congress and Telugu Desam Party, who had formed an alliance, secured 19 and 2 seats respectively. The BJP was able to win just one seat, while the AIMIM retained its seven seats.
Both Congress and AIMIM leaders said that there are 20-odd seats outside of Hyderabad that have over 15% Muslim voters. “Then there are urban centres like Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Adilabad, and a few others where the percentage is higher or close to 30%. The Congress can easily win those seats but we have to counter the BRS,” said the TPCC leader.