Only 3 Muslims, including 2 dummy candidates from Hyderabad in the list of BRS; community unhappy

Hyderabad: In addition to Mohammed Shakeel Aamir, the incumbent MLA from Bodhan, two other candidates from the Old City—Charminar and Bahadurpura—have been included in the initial list of BRS candidates unveiled on Monday.

These constituencies, known as strongholds of AIMIM, are expected to witness friendly contests due to the alliance between AIMIM and BRS. Ibrahim Lodi of Charminar and Inayat Ali Baqri of Bahadurpura, both BRS candidates, are likely to compete in these constituencies.

Baqri, who previously served as SETWIN chairman and contested in 2018, secured 14,475 votes while the winner, Mohd Moazam Khan, received 96,993 votes. In the 2018 election, Shakeel was the sole candidate from the ruling party, garnering 74,895 votes and winning by a margin of over 8,000 against his nearest Congress rival.

The strategy of fielding a limited number of Muslim candidates, especially as “dummy” candidates, faced criticism from the community.

This criticism stemmed from the fact that the Muslim population constitutes around 12% of Telangana’s population, contrasting with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s promise of 10% political representation.

Khalida Parveen, a socio-political activist with a following of approximately 60,000 on X platform, expressed her discontent by highlighting the need for fair representation for Muslims in politics, given their significant role in the separate Telangana movement. She tagged the Chief Minister in her post.