Telangana: Demand to include minorities in new Cabinet intensifies in Congress

Even as the Congress secured a clear majority of 64 seats and is set to form the government, many leaders within the party want Muslim minority candidates to be inducted into the new cabinet

Hyderabad: With none of the Muslim minority candidates being elected from the Congress party, there is a demand from within the party to accommodate a few in the new State cabinet to be formed in a few days.

Though quite a few Muslim minority candidates had contested the elections representing the Congress, all of them lost. Former Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, who contested from Nizamabad Urban constituency, lost to BJP’s D Suryanarayana by a margin of 15,587 votes.

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Similarly, Feroz Khan, who put up a strong fight representing the Congress in Nampally constituency, lost to AIMIM’s Majid Hussain by just 2,175 votes. Jubilee Hills Congress candidate and former Indian Cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin also lost to sitting BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath by a margin of 16,337.

Even as the Congress secured a clear majority of 64 seats and is set to form the government, many leaders within the party want Muslim minority candidates to be inducted into the new cabinet.

TPCC senior vice president G Niranjan said since no minority candidate won in these elections from the Congress, Nampally candidate Feroz Khan, who fought hard, should be inducted into the State Cabinet. The party has to consider his induction or any other minority leader to build up the party base in the minority community and win their confidence, he said.

Acknowledging the absence of winning candidates from the Old City in the Assembly elections, Hyderabad District Congress Committee president Sameer Waliullah said Old City should be given representation in the Legislative Council through nomination.

“True to the spirit of a welfare government, the Congress party is expected to fulfill the aspirations of the common people,” he said in a statement while expressing confidence in the new government’s positive impact on the community.