Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday sought to know from the ruling Congress in Telangana why it is abruptly making Mohammed Azharuddin as a minister just ahead of the Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll, scheduled for November 11.
The former Indian cricket captain is likely to be sworn in as minister in the Telangana Cabinet on October 31, official sources said on Thursday.
“The Congress party should tell the people why it is abruptly making a candidate (Azharuddin), who lost the Jubilee Hills seat (during the 2023 Assembly polls), a minister. Why the sudden love for minorities when the bypoll is just a week away? For whose benefit is he being made a minister, whom to please?,” the Union Coal and Mines Minister told reporters here.
Reddy alleged that, in fact, it is the Majlis (AIMIM) that is contesting the Jubilee Hills by-election in the garb of Congress, adding people of Telangana should understand the devious ways of the grand old party.
He further accused the Congress party of trying to win the Jubilee Hills seat through dubious means.
“The Congress is seeking to appease the AIMIM. The Congress is so desperate that it is ready to hold AIMIM’s feet, make Azharuddin a minister, attack political rivals, send opposition leaders to jail only to win the bypoll,” Reddy alleged, adding people of Telangana should understand this.
He alleged that the Congress is foisting false cases against some persons and sending them to jail, encouraging defections through coercion.
