If any Party in the country can be credited with being at the forefront of wooing the minority votes, it is definitely the Congress.
Time and again, the Congress has gone over- board with populist measures in favor of the minorities, especially the Muslims to win and consolidate their vote bank.
In Andhra Pradesh, it was no different with leaders like Neduramalli Janardhan Reddy and even strongman YSR, adopting a placatory attitude to the MIM. But it all appears to have changed under the reign of Kiran Kumar Reddy.
The MIM Party was initially a staunch supporter of ‘Samaikhyandhra’. However, in return, the Owaisi brothers made a series of demands to Kiran which had the latter fuming.
One of the demands was to hand over ‘Mahavir Hospital’ and the adjacent land of approximately 11 acres to the ‘foundation’ of the ‘Owaisi’ brothers. Another demand pertained to the controversial ‘Bhagyalakshmi’ temple issue in ‘Old City’.
Kiran Kumar Reddy put his foot down firmly and said no to the ‘Owaisi’ brothers who were taken aback at a Congress government turning down their demands promptly withdrew support to the Congress.
Today, it is once again interesting to see the T-Congress cry foul over the realignment of the Metro route in ‘old city’.
The T-Congress claims that it is only to appease the MIM who were blackmailing KCR in the Assembly by calling for a ‘white paper’ on the budget.
Whatever be the reasons, it is amusing in a way to see the Congress Party come out with allegations against a ‘minority Party’, something unthinkable of to those who are wise to the Congress style of functioning.
Politics indeed is a funny game that makes for strange bedfellows.
