Muslim community peeved at denial of MLC seats

Not a single Muslim figure in the 6 names announced by the TRS leadership for Council seats. As per the ratio of the community, at least two Muslims should have been chosen. Unfortunately as usual the TRS has ignored the community.

These sentiments were expressed by members of Tanzeem-e-Aimma Masajid, Hyderabad, and Jamia Nizamia Old Boys Association. Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, they said Muslims account for 18 percent of the population in Telangana but they have a lone representative in the Legislative Council. On the contrary, the Reddy community population is only 3 percent and yet it is given 3 tickets. This puts a question mark on the 12 percent reservations promised by the Chief Minister, K. Chandrashekhar Rao. So far Muslims have got only 4 percent reservations and that too during the Congress regime, said Moulana Sultan Ahmed Naqshbandi, Shabbir Ali, and Salmeen bin Sayeed.

Expressing their strong disappointment, they said the ruffled feelings of the community ought to be soothed. Election of 12 members for local bodies and one from the Governor's quota is pending. TRS leadership can still take corrective measures and accommodate Muslim candidates. The last date for finalizing the names of candidates is November 24. At least two Muslims should be nominated for the Legislative Council so that the trust and confidence reposed by the community in TRS can remain intact, the minority leaders said.

Moulana Sultan said an action plan for ventilating the dissatisfaction of the community would be charted out soon. He demanded the government to raise the honorarium being paid to the Imams of mosques from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 20,000 per month.