A secret meeting of more than 20 senior Congress Muslim leaders, soon after the meeting of Congress Election Committee on the background of state Assembly elections has created tension in the Congress party.
K. Rehman Khan, who missed entry to the Rajya Sabha for the second term, former union minister C K Jaffer Sharief, Ministers Roshan Baig, U T Khader, Tanveer Sait, C M Ibrahim, Firoz Sait, Rizwan Arshad and many other MLAs, MPs and former ministers were present on the occasion.
According to the sources, Muslim leaders are unhappy with AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, who is also the party’s state in-charge. “The community is facing dearth of political leadership,” the leaders are believed to have told while pressing for post of either DCM or an equivalent position for any Muslim leader.
The meeting has decided to directly speak these issues out to the party high-command and AICC President Rahul Gandhi. It has decided to demand minimum 25 seats for Muslim candidates and ensure seats to Christian, Jain and other minority candidates in 5 constituencies.
There was a lengthy discussion regarding the possible effect on Muslims by providing minority status to Lingayats.
