By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will allot 15 assembly and 2 Lok Sabha tickets to Muslim community in 2014 general election. It was decided in a consultation meeting with TDP Muslim leaders called by party president N. Chandra Babu Naidu at his residence. This meeting was called to discuss strategy to bring back Muslim community close to the party, and to regain Muslim votes which TDP has lost since 2004 election.
TDP president N. Chandra Babu Naidu is leaving no stone unturned to ensure his victory in 2014 elections, and thus trying every bit to please all communities. He created a flutter in the AP political circles few days back when he declared that his party will allot 100 assembly seats to the strong OBC community in the state.
Now TDP Muslim leaders used this promise to ride their own small dreams, they urged and pressurized the TDP president to allot at least fifteen assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats to Muslims. Muslim TDP leaders lobby was working die hard to get the assurance of Naidu for their demand, in fact Siasat Urdu daily was carrying out reports from the last few months indicating a promise from the TDP president, which put Naidu in do or die situation, Siasat is owned by Zahid Ali Khan, a TDP polit bureau member.
After hectic consultations Muslim leaders finally got what they were lobbying for since a long time. In this consultation meeting TDP chief accepted their demands. Muslim leaders in fact made it clear to TDP chief that 8 Muslim dominated assembly seats of Hyderabad should be kept out from those promised 15 assembly tickets. They also brought to the notice of TDP chief that allotting tickets will not be the end to the party’s responsibility; they insisted that TDP president should ensure their victory by appealing to the OBCs to vote for the Muslim candidate as Muslims are voting for OBC candidates for decades. TDP president has reportedly agreed to all these demands of the Muslim leaders.
TDP president in this meeting also formed a 13 member committee of TDP Muslim leaders headed by party’s vice-president Lal Jaan Basha to enquire into the issues of Muslims, their solutions, suitable election promises for the community and appropriate Muslim candidates for the 2014 elections. Chandra Babu Naidu ordered the committee to tour the whole state and submit a report on the constituencies from where Muslims can contest and win on the party’s ticket.
This meeting was attended by Zahid Ali Khan, editor Siasat Urdu daily and TDP polit bureau member, Lal Jaan Basha vice-president TDP, Mohd Saleem, Ali Masqati and many other Muslim leaders from the party.