T-Cong Threatened With Muslim Leaders' Resignations

The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee is heading for huge trouble with almost all leaders, who belong to the minority community, threatening to quit the party.

Their complaints have to do with the inadequate representation of the minorities during the allocation of tickets for the ensuing Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Quoting highly placed sources, the Muslim leaders of the Congress party alleged that the party was planning to give Assembly tickets to only four Muslim candidates. Stating that the Muslim community constitutes about 12.4 per cent of the total population in Telangana, they demanded that the community be given its adequate share in the party's tickets.

Led by Minority Department Chairman Mohamamd Sirajuddin, over 100 minority leaders staged dharna in the premises of the Gandhi Bhavan for nearly four hours on Wednesday.

Speaking to media personnel, Sirajuddin alleged that the TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah and a few others were showing a discriminating attitude towards the Muslim leaders.

He said that the Muslim leaders who have served the party were being ignored, and a preference was being given to "readymade" leaders who are being "imported" into the party.

He demanded that the Congress assure tickets to Muslim candidates in at least one Lok Sabha seat and 12 Assembly seats in Telangana.

Sirajuddin had set April 4 as the deadline for the party to respond to his demand. He said that should the party refrain from responding, he would stage a mega dharna at the Gandhi Bhavan on April 5, and if the leadership remains non-responsive, Muslims across the Telangana region would boycott the MPTC and ZPTC elections.

Later, a final decision will be taken whether or not to continue with the Congress party in future.

The minority community leaders are demanding a Lok Sabha ticket for former minister Mohammad Fareeduddin from Zaheerabad, and Assembly tickets for Sultan Ahmed from Kazagnagar, Younus Sultan from Khammam, Taher Bin Hamdan from Nizamabad, Obaidullah Kotwal from Mahabubnagar, Babar Saleem from Ramagundem, Azmatullah Hussaini from Karimnagar, Dr M A Ansari from Ibrahimpatnam and Mohammad Sirajuddin from Musheerabad Assembly constituencies. (INN)