Muslim Congress leaders pen demand for at least one ticket

NEW DELHI: A group of senior

Muslim

leaders of Congress have demanded that at least one candidate from the community be given a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi if the alliance with AAP doesn’t work out.

In a

letter

to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, four former Congress MLAs — Chaudhary Mateen Ahmed, Shoaib Iqbal, Mohammad Asif Khan and Hassan Ahmed — said that a Muslim candidate should be fielded from either North East Delhi or Chandni Chowk, which have a sizeable population of the minority community. A copy of the letter has also been sent to AICC general secretary in-charge for Delhi, PC Chacko, and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Sheila Dikshit.

The letter, which also mentions the name of Delhi Congress working president Haroon Yusuf, said that the party can consider any of them for the ticket. “Keeping in view a large number of Muslim voters and the contribution and track record of winning elections by these five leaders, one ticket must be given to any of them either from Chandni Chowk or North East Delhi parliamentary seat,” the letter said.

It added that all the five leaders are “very popular and active” among Muslims and other communities. “There is resentment among people and political circles as no Muslim has been given a ticket from Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” the letter said.

The four leaders also met Dikshit on Sunday with their demand. “Sheila Dikshit said that the tickets are yet to be announced in Delhi and promised to consider our demand,” said Ahmed, who had won five consecutive elections from Seelampur assembly between 1993 and 2013. “If a Muslim is given a ticket, its impact will be visible across the city,” he added.

Both North East Delhi and Chandni Chowk are Muslim-dominated parliamentary constituencies with 20% and 15% vote share, respectively.

Though no formal announcement has been made, sources said Congress has finalised the candidature of veteran leader Jai Prakash Aggarwal and former Union minister Kapil Sibal from North East Delhi and Chandni Chowk, respectively. The party is likely to announce the names on Tuesday. The notification for polls in Delhi, scheduled for May 12, will be issued on April 16. The nomination process will start a day later.

Interestingly, Delhi Congress had shortlisted Ahmed and Yusuf from the two Muslim dominated seats, but lost out to the senior leaders who had won the 2009 election. Khan, the former Okhla MLA, said though Congress has never given a Lok Sabha ticket in Delhi to a Muslim candidate, it has always nominated a leader from the community to Rajya Sabha.

“AAP has neither given a ticket to a Muslim candidate for Lok Sabha polls nor sent a leader from the community to Rajya Sabha. It is a good opportunity for us to win back the Muslim votes, 80% of whom voted for AAP in 2014. We will be able to give a tough fight to BJP even if we lose the election and definitely benefit in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections,” Khan added.

Chacko refused to comment on the issue saying he was not aware of the letter. Yusuf said the former MLAs had made the leadership aware of their sentiments, adding that whatever the party decides would be in their larger interest.