Hyderabad: BRS senior leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail on Tuesday accused Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of practising ‘tokenism instead of transformation’ by appointing former cricketer MD Azharuddin as a minister to divert attention from “two years of broken promises” to Telangana’s Muslim community.
Addressing newsmen here, Sohail said Revanth Reddy’s campaign in the Jubilee Hills by-election was built on symbolism, not substance. He charged that the Congress government “betrayed the entire community” by shelving its Minority Declaration commitments.
Calling the two-year delay in Muslim cabinet representation a ‘political sin dressed up as redemption’, Sohail said, “denying representation for two years was an injustice; appointing one minister now is not a favour – it’s damage control.”
He alleged that the Congress had turned empowerment into ’empty rhetoric’, citing the Rs 1,000-crore subsidised-loan scheme for minority youth and women that has not benefited a single person. Of the Rs. 300 crore allocated in 2024–25, only Rs. 1 lakh was spent – mostly on office expenses. “Budgets without disbursals are lies on paper”, Sohail said, accusing the government of perfecting the art of announcements without delivery.
The BRS leader further alleged that the government has failed in both employment and education initiatives, including the Abdul Kalam Taufa-e-Taleem scheme, which he said ‘never saw the light of day’. He criticised the recently announced Indiramma Minority Mahila Yojana and Revanth Anna ka Sahara as ‘cosmetic band-aids’, claiming that less than 1% of promised funds have been released. “Under the BRS regime, minority welfare was routine, not rhetoric”, he asserted, demanding immediate revival of loan and educational-aid programmes.