Telangana Congress may field 10 Muslim candidates to garner community votes

Hyderabad: Learning from the Karnataka Assembly polls where nine of the 15 Muslim candidates won, the Telangana PCC is likely to offer close to ten. This will be in contrast to the ruling BRS party which named only three candidates, including two in the Old City, as part of a friendly contest. Party sources informed The Hans India that, unlike the pink party, which allotted two seats to ‘losing candidates’ as part of friendly contest with AIMIM, besides the sitting MLA of Bodhan, most Congress Muslim candidates will be winning seats. “Besides ensuring their win, the party, which has witnessed a drop in its vote share during the past few elections, is aiming at increasing it before it goes for general elections. In the ensuing Assembly polls it will also be testing waters in the State keeping in mind Parliament elections and tap into vote share,” explained a leader who met K Muralidharan, the chairman of the screening committee for Telangana. In parts of the Old City the party will be shifting strategy, shedding off the traditional attempt to eat into AIMIM votes which mostly ‘proved futile’. It will be focusing more on Hindu votes which in recent years shifted to the BJP. There is also a proposal for giving a ticket from Yakutpura to a leader from the Shia community so that the party pockets 30,000-35,000 votes. On Tuesday the visiting screening committee held discussions with the District Congress Committees’ presidents as part of short-listing of candidates. The potential of the candidates to win the Assembly seat, financial strengths and religious and caste equations of different seats were discussed. The leaders held deliberations with the visiting committee on the second day before the seats are finalised. The priorities included increasing the vote share by targeting Hindu votes, which were traditionally with the party until recent decades. “For instance, Bahadurpura remains a fortress of the AIMIM, as some 90 per cent vote share goes to the winning candidate’. ‘Unlike earlier occasions, this time a Hindu candidate is likely to be fielded so that he or she may get Hindu votes towards increasing the vote share. This will ensure that by the Parliament elections the party share in Hyderabad may touch somewhere between 1.5 and two lakh votes; the party ensures there is a tough contest with Asaduddin Owaisi,” added the leader.