At a meeting held at Sangareddy on Sunday evening, Majlis-e-Ittahadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi giving an open appeal to Muslims of Telangana not to vote for Maha Kootami but only to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the coming assembly elections.
This has led to the discussion in political circles as to which way Muslims of Telangana would swing -- will the Muslims go by the call given by Owaisi or take an independent decision on their voting.
The Congress party is hopeful that Muslims had realised the cheating by the TRS with its false promises before 2014.
Chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao lured the Muslims in the last elections with the promise of giving 12% reservation in jobs and education. He did not fulfil the promise in the last four-and-a-half years and today he is not even talking about it.
"Muslims of Telangana are poor, but not fools. When we trust someone, we mean it. But when someone tries to cheat us and play with our sentiments, we don't spare them. KCR took the Muslim community for granted and therefore, TRS will be punished with a humiliating defeat in next elections," PCC minority leader Abullah Sohail said.
He exhorted the Muslims to come out of 'we are minorities' syndrome.
"Muslims constitute over 13% of total population in Telangana State. We have a sizeable presence in almost 40 Assembly constituencies and our votes are the deciding factor. No political party should dare to humiliate you as it was done by TRS. Realise your strength and use it to defeat TRS for not fulfilling any of the promises that it made with the community," he said.
He said KCR should be punished for having secret alliance with the BJP and for strengthening Hindutva forces at the national level.
He also asked the Muslims to be cautious with MIM which could enter the fray from many constituencies only to divide Muslim votes.
"Any vote for TRS or MIM will be a vote for BJP," he said.
On the other hand, the TRS is banking on the welfare schemes launched by KCR government by enhancing the budgetary allocation from Rs 1,030 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 2000 crore in 2018-19.
The biggest benefit KCR had done for the Muslims is establishment of 200 residential schools and colleges exclusively for Muslims, where they are given free education, food and clothing up to Class 12.
This is besides routine sops for Muslims like Shadi Mubarak (financial assistance to poor Muslim couples) and Ramzan gifts.
So, it will be interesting to watch how Muslims would vote in the coming elections.
