Muslim leaders seek BJP support to defeat MIM

Express News Service
First Published : 16 Feb 2009 04:28:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 16 Feb 2009 11:45:12 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Strange it may seem but Muslim leaders from the Old City in Hyderabad are seeking the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next elections to break the monopoly of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).

A delegation of Muslim leaders recently met the State leaders of the BJP in support of the candidature of Urdu daily ‘Siasat’ editor Zahid Ali Khan, who has decided to contest the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate.

Muslim leaders, who are close to Khan, requested the BJP not to field its candidate from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency to avoid division of Hindu votes. The BJP leaders, however, did not open up their mind immediately.

“We hope that the BJP will not field its candidate,” a TDP minority leader from the Old City said.

He analysed that there were 30 per cent Hindus in the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency. Of the 70 per cent Muslims, around 25 to 30 per cent would support the candidature of Khan, who enjoys the support of the TDP, the TRS, the Left, the MBT and the PRP. If the BJP did not field its candidate, the winning chances of Khan would be better, with the support of the consolidated Hindu votes and the 25 per cent Muslim votes, he added.

The BJP was also trying to defeat the MIM, he recalled.

Saying that the BJP had cleared the names of the Lok Sabha candidates from places like Chevella and Secunderabad and had not taken any decision so far on the candidate for the Hyderabad seat, Khan’s supporters are hopeful of a positive response from the BJP.