Hyderabad: For as long as anyone can remember, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has been the dominant minority party in Hyderabad. However, that looks set to change with the party facing a challenge from within the community. Zahid Ali Khan, the 65-year-old editor of Urdu daily ‘Siasat’, is contesting the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate, primarily against the MIM. Khan has managed to rally behind him the TDP, TRS, Left parties, Praja Rajyam, and Devender Goud's ‘Nava Telangana Praja Party’ who have assured him that they would not be fielding their candidates for the Hyderabad seat. The Congress is likely to support the MIM and refrain from fielding a candidate while the BJP is still undecided. The veteran journalist, who started as a sub-editor with ‘Siasat’ in 1964 and went on to become its editor, says "My fight is against MIM and its divisive and communal politics. I want to restore the old glory of Hyderabad city which has been ruined by communal forces with their divisive politics. I have the support of six parties including the Left, and people from my own community are willing me to contest against MIM." 70 per cent of the population in Hyderabad constituency is Muslim while 30 per cent is Hindu. Khan is confident that not only will 30 to 35 per cent of the Muslim population vote for him, a majority of the Hindu population will also prefer him over the MIM. "The community is seeking a change in leadership. The MIM is present here since the last 40 years but the Muslim community has not benefited in any way. There is no development in the old city areas, things have only deteriorated for the community because of communal politics. The community does not want that and that is why I have decided to contest," Khan says. However's Khan's optimism about the Hindu vote may prove to be misplaced if the BJP decides to field a candidate. Siasat has been at the forefront of criticising MIM and its leaders since several months which even led to an assault on Khan and his editorial staff at a marriage function on January 23 by MIM activists. This appears to be one of the reasons behind Khan jumping in the fray. Incidentally, TDP's Chandrababu Naidu and PRP's Chiranjeevi were some of the many leaders who visited Khan in Hospital. Hyderabad old city is the stronghold of MIM, its former president Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi having been the elected MP from 1984 until 2004 when he decided to step down and his son Asaduddin Owaisi was elected to the seat in the 2004 LS elections. The party, which has four seats in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, had come in for criticism after its MLAs and members assaulted Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen at the Press Club in August 2007.
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.
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HYDERABAD: Even as Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen distanced itself from the Friday night attack on Siasat editor Zahed Ali Khan, the city police on Saturday booked an attempt to murder case against MIM MLA Mumtaz Khan and began investigation. South Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Atul Singh said, "We have registered a case against Mumtaz Khan but did not arrest him. We are investigating the case and would arrest if a case against him is established prima facie." MIM President Asaduddin Owaisi said, "MIM and its MLA had no role in the attack on Zahed Ali Khan." Meanwhile, a stream of leading politicians and senior mediapersons called on Khan who is recuperating from injuries at Care Hospital, Moazzam Jahi Market. The visitors who condemned the attack while meeting Khan included Congress spokesman and Rajya Sabha member K Keshav Rao, CPM leader B V Raghavulu, CPI MP S Sudhkar Reddy and Prajarajyam leader Vinay Kumar. Based on a complaint by Khan, the police booked cases against 14 persons that includes MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi. Khan said in his complaint that he was attacked by Mumtaz Khan by the butt of a revolver. He also said Mumtaz assaulted him along with 20 other persons. He named Akbaruddin Owais in his representation to the Hussainalam police. In the meantime, G Anjaneyulu, secretary of AP Working Journalists, and M S Hashmi, president, Hyderabad Union of Journalists, submitted a memorandum to DGP S S P Yadav. The mediapersons said the assault on Zahed Ali Khan and two of his reporters--Athar Moin and M Mubasharuddin Khurram--was an attack on the freedom of press. They demanded immediate arrest of all the assailants. The Old City bandh call given by opposition parties on Saturday in protest against the attack was peaceful. Nearly 500 workers belonging to TDP, CPM, CPI led a rally from Charminar to TDP's party office in Shalibanda. The protesters raised slogans against government and MIM party like "Gundagiri nasinchali". City police commissioner has provided a gunman for the security of Khan.
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The Hussaini Alam police arrested four persons in the Siasat editor attack case that took place on the night of January 23. The arrested ones were produced before a magistrate on Monday and remanded in judicial custody. According to Hussaini Alam SI Mohammed Sadique Hussain, four persons from Yakutpura - Mohammed Misbauddin Zaki, 47, Abdul Azim, 35, Hamid Ali Khan, 43 and Syed Bilal Ahmed, 27 - were arrested on Sunday night. Earlier, based on a complaint lodged by Siasat editor Zahid Ali Khan, police registered cases against 14 persons, including MIM legislators Mumtaz Khan and Akbaruddin Owaisi.
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Hyderabad: The sixth metropolitan magistrate has extended the judicial custody of Satyam chief Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju and former CFO Srinivas Vadlamani, two employees of the accounting firm Price Waterhouse S Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas till March 7.
Incidentally, a day after the CBI registered a case in the Rs 7,000-crore Satyam fraud case, the probe agency took over all the documents and other materials from the Andhra Pradesh Police. “The CBI registered a FIR against B Ramalinga Raju, the then chairman of Satyam Computer, directors and auditors of Satyam and others and has taken up investigation of the case from CB (crime branch) CID, Andhra Pradesh,” a CBI statement said. The case against them was registered under various IPC sections from 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 and 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged document as genuine) to 477-A (falsification of accounts).
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