Trouble is mounting for Congress in Telangana ahead of Assembly election as two of its leaders have resigned, expressing their dissent over the ticket distribution. On Wednesday, 14 November, senior leader Abid Rasool Khan resigned from the party and defected to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), according to The News Minute.
He wrote a letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi saying that he was hurt and explained his two reasons for resignation. He was upset with the appointment of Shaik Abdul Sohail as the Chair of the Minorities Commission, a commission that was chaired by Rassol earlier.
He said he was also upset that working presidents from the Reddy, Scheduled Caste (SC), Kamma communites had been appointed but none from the Muslim community. Khan said the Congress should give tickets to Muslims in one constituency each in the 10 old districts of the state where the party has the chance of winning.
"Can they not do that much?" the state Congress vice-president asked in a poser to the party's central leadership.
Under the seat-sharing formula announced by the Congress, the TDP would contest in 14 constituencies, TJS in eight and the CPI in three. The Congress would field nominees in 94 segments.
‘Reddys Can Win Anywhere, But Not Muslims’
"We (Muslim leaders of Telangana) are very upset. Our president, Rahul Gandhi, has time and again said he will take care of genuine workers, and he will not allow paratroopers to enter the party and take out the cake. Things are totally happening on the other side (to the contrary)," he told PTI.
The Congress leadership, he insisted, has to shift the Reddy community members from these towns and give tickets to Muslims. "They (Reddy community members) can win from anywhere, as they are strong financially, but Muslims cannot win from other seats."
"If Rahul Gandhi really wants to win Telangana for Congress, he should sit down and set right this anomaly immediately," he said, warning that the party would be in a bad situation in all the districts if the Congress chief does not act.
'Injustice Done to Muslims in Allotment of Seats'
Another prominent Telangana Congress leader and National Coordinator of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Mohammed Khaleequr Rahman tendered his resignation to Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 16 November.
He said in his letter, that was posted on Twitter, “The injustice done to the muslims in the recent times in general and in the allotment of the seats in this Assembly elections in Telangana and in particular inspite of the assurances and the promises given by your goodself and local leadership, the party failed to recognize the genuine and the loyal party workers and the leaders.”
On Friday, 16 November, both the leaders were inducted into TRS. The official Twitter account of the party put out a post saying, "Congress Party leaders Sri @Khaleeqrahman and Sri @abidrasool_khan joined in TRS Party in presence of Deputy CM Sri Mahmood Ali and Minister Sri @KTRTRS in Telangana Bhavan, Hyderabad."
Muslims constitute 30-35 per cent of the population in some of the district headquarters like Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Khammam, Khan said. He added that leaders of the Reddy community had established themselves there and "don't want to leave the seats at any cost, because Muslim votes come easily to them."
(With inputs from The News Minute and PTI)
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