Hyderabad: BRS leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail on Thursday said Mohammed Azharuddin’s entry into the cabinet came because of BRS pressure, not Congress initiative.
He said the Congress government denied Muslims representation for 22 months and acted only after BRS repeatedly exposed the gap. The delay, he said, insulted Telangana’s 15 per cent Muslim population. Public criticism, not intent, forced the Congress high command to induct Azharuddin.
Sohail recalled that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had earlier defended the absence of Muslim ministers, saying no Muslim MLA was elected in 2023. He said the government still failed to use the Legislative Council route to give representation. He cited Amer Ali Khan’s case, noting that he became an MLC under the Governor’s quota but was later dropped after the Supreme Court annulled his nomination.
Sohail said Azharuddin’s inclusion was a reaction to growing dissatisfaction in Muslim areas rather than a planned step toward inclusion.
BRS calls Azharuddin’s cabinet inclusion a political eyewash
He said Azharuddin’s status as MLC remained uncertain because of the pending Supreme Court case. Even the Chief Minister, he claimed, was unsure about how long the tenure would last. Sohail called the move symbolic and aimed at calming anger ahead of the Jubilee Hills by-election.
He urged voters to reject Congress in the bypoll, arguing that only a setback at the polls would make it take minority welfare seriously. Sohail accused the ruling party of using Azharuddin’s name to hide its failure to deliver on the minority declaration.
He said Congress had promised an annual ₹4,000 crore minority-welfare budget, a dedicated sub-plan, and ₹1,000 crore in subsidised loans for youth. None of these promises, he said, had been kept. Sohail vowed that BRS would keep fighting for genuine Muslim representation and accountability.
