Cong Muslim leaders demand MLC nominee, BBMP, LS tickets

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: More internal friction has developed within the Congress, this time with respect to expectations from leaders of the Muslim minority.

The issue range from the demand from the community for a seat in the Council, robust representation in ticket distribution in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections and two tickets for Muslims in the Lok Sabha polls of May 2024.

What has rubbed Congress’ Muslim leaders the wrong way is that the son of former Union minister and senior leader K Rahman Khan, Mansoor Ali Khan was assured of a Council nomination but was later denied the same in favour of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s confidante and former minister Umashree.

Leaders from the minority community within the party insisted that it wasn’t about Mansoor but about the larger question of representation.

Muslims had been robust in their support for Congress in the May 10 Assembly elections and the expectations had been great. Usually, Muslims get three Cabinet berths but this time they got two with Zameer Ahmed Khan bagging the Housing and Minority Affairs portfolios while Rahim Khan landed the Municipal Administration and Waqf ministries.

As a compromise, MLC Naseer Ahmed had been made a Political Secretary to the CM. Moreover, UT Khader was made the Speaker of the Assembly.

However, if Umashree is given the MLC nomination, the community will have to wait another year to land a Council seat when eight will be up for grabs.

A delegation of Zameer, MLA Rizwan Arshad and others even met Siddaramaiah regarding the same Deputy CM forthcoming On Sunday, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar tried to strike a conciliatory note saying that the legitimate demands of the community would be fulfilled.

He made the comments after a meeting of the party’s Muslim leaders. The Congress chief blamed the erstwhile BJP government for gerrymandering BBMP wards to ensure Muslim votes were divided.

“The BJP government divided the wards in such a way that contesting elections would become difficult for members of the community. This was done to split their votes. Therefore, minorities are demanding that they be given opportunities to contest in the seats where they make up good numbers,” he said, adding that the demands would be put forth before the relevant election committee of the party.

Raj Bhavan receives plaint

Meanwhile, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot had received complaints from organisations like Karnataka Rajya Muslim Jana Jagruthi Vedike and others regarding the party’s three Council nominations. The other two nominations from the party are former Minister MR Seetharam and ex-Enforcement Directorate officer HP Sudham Das. Gehlot has asked Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma to assess the plaints.