Congress MP and former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin appears to be the new weapon the ruling party’s kitty to use at a time when it was facing serious onslaught from the YSR Congress Party in the coastal region and the TRS in Telangana.
The ruling party was worried that it might lose the traditional support of the Muslims after the MIM party parted company with it. Now Azharuddin appears to be its new saviour. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who has close friendly relations with Azharuddin from his cricketing days, appears to be planning to bring the UP MP back to the State to give confidence to the Muslim voters as well as face the onslaught of the MIM, YSR Congress and TRS, using Azhar’s Karishma.
Though Kiran Kumar Reddy and the Congress had chosen to take on the MIM and even said that MIM was not the sole representative of all the Muslims in the State, the party had fears that Muslims might get alienated from it. Now in Azhar, the party found a new hope.
Talking to the media after meeting the Chief Minister in Delhi on Saturday, Azhar indicated that he was interested in coming to AP politics. Stating that it was for the Congress high command and party chief Sonia Gandhi to decide from where he should contest from, Azhar said he loved Hyderabad and would contest from here, if the high command directed him to do so.
Congress leaders are stating that the statement of Azharuddin brought a fresh enthusiasm in the party ranks. Discussions are afoot if he might be pitted as the Congress candidate against Asaduddin Owaisi from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency. They feel that if Azharuddin contests from Hyderabad, Muslims would vote for him. (NSS)