GHMC: Shabbir Ali To Quit If TRS Bags 100 Seats

The Leader of the Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Friday said that he was ready to accept the challenge posed by Telangana IT and Panchayat Raj Minister K Taraka Rama Rao and resign from his MLC post if the TRS won 100 seats or more in the upcoming GHMC elections.

Addressing the media at the CLP office, Shabbir Ali said that KTR's challenge was not only immature, but also symbolised arrogance and over-confidence.

"I'm nevertheless willing to accept KTR's challenge if he agrees to quit as minister if the TRS does not win at least 100 seats," he said.

Stating that the TRS government's popularity was on the wane, Shabbir Ali alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was trying to do some damage control by intimidating the candidates and leaders of the Opposition parties.

He accused KCR of speaking to some 200 Opposition candidates on Thursday asking them to withdraw from the elections. At other places, even the police were used to intimidate the candidates, he said.

"This is open misuse of the official machinery, and abuse of power. I appeal to the DGP and Police Commissioner to look into the specific complaints we have referred, and direct the policemen not to interfere in political matters," he said.

He also alleged that the TRS leaders were violating all ethics and set norms to win the elections. For example, he said, they were trying to take the credit for the projects initiated during the Congress regime.

The Congress leader also described KCR as anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim. He faulted KCR for not visiting the family of Rohith Vemula, research scholar of the University Of Hyderabad who committed suicide on Sunday. And showing a TRS pamphlet for the GHMC elections, Shabbir Ali said that the Chief Minister had dropped mentioning his promise of 12% reservation for Muslims.

Shabbir Ali also ridiculed MIM's slogan of "Shahar Hamara, Mayor Hamara". Stating that a party needed at least 106 votes to win the Mayor's seat, he pointed out that the MIM was contesting only 61 of the 150 seats. It had 10 ex-officio members, including one MP, seven MLAs and two MLCs. Even if it won all the seats it was contesting, it would have only 71 votes, almost 35 short of the magic figure. This implied that there was match-fixing between the MIM and the TRS, he said.

Asserting that the Congress was very strong in Greater Hyderabad, he exuded confidence that it would emerge victorious in a majority of the wards.

Asked about rebels and the allegations by those who were denied tickets, Shabbir Ali said that those reactions clearly showed the popularity of the Congress in the city. He said that the demonstrations at Gandhi Bhavan over the tickets issue were an answer to allegations levelled by TRS leaders, who claimed that the Congress did not have candidates interested in its tickets.

"We've had more number of aspirants than any other Party in the city," he asserted.