By Subia Khan
Noted social activist and editor of Urdu daily Siasat Zahed Ali Khan has decided to fight for the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate in the upcoming general elections.
“There is need to change the politics of the Old City which has been in the stranglehold of the Majlis (Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen). I had this feeling that I should challenge the leadership of Majlis for keeping the people and their surroundings utterly backward. I did this through my newspaper. The public response to my writings was overwhelming. Now the public wants me to fight Parliament elections. I have accepted the persuasion of my conscience and answering the call of the people,’’ he told TOI.
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency is being represented by MIM—first by late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi and since 2004 by his eldest son Asaduddin Owaisi for the last quarter century.
Though the reports of Khan entering the electoral battle had been there in the air for few months he decided to express his intentions at a public meeting on Sunday night at Yakutpura.
Khan said that he would be supported by Telugu Desam, CPI, CPM and TRS. “Though there has been no formal talk with the Congress on my election plans, there are a number of Congress members who have offered to support me,’’ he said.
Asaduddin Owaisi who was groomed by his father for long years to take over the reigns of MIM, won the 2004 election by defeating his nearest rival G Subhashas Chanderji of BJP by more than one lakh votes.
With the delimitation of the Assembly and Parliament constituencies, the concentration of Muslim voters has increased in Hyderabad.
Sources at MIM dismissed Khan as a political novice and said that the party would be too happy to show him his place in electoral battle. Owaisi was not available for comments.
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