The issue of minority representation in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly is hotting up in the Congress party with each passing day. The minority leaders after raising their demand before the State leadership in Bhopal have now approached the party high command in New Delhi.
Former Madhya Pradesh minister and former chairman of the MP State Minorities Commission Ibrahim Qureshi called on the Congress general secretary in-charge for State Mohan Prakash in the national capital on Friday in presence of State Congress chief and MP Kantilal Bhuria and demanded adequate tickets for the community besides that the winnable leaders of the community should be fielded by the party.
Qureshi later talking to The Pioneer over phone said, “We have demanded that adequate number of tickets should be provided by the party to all faiths of the minority community of the State including Muslims, Jain, Bodh, Sikh, Christians and others.” Qureshi further informed that they also demanded that the winnable candidates from the minority should be fielded so that the minority representation in the State Assembly could be raised.
“The Congress should not do mere formality of providing some tickets to the community, instead tickets to those community leaders should be provided who enjoys good rapport with the majority community and have the capability to register victory for the party,” he added. He said they had urged the party not to field minority candidates on the basis of population; instead candidates should also be fielded from the constituencies where they are lesser in number but their votes are crucial for party victory.
The former minister said that on behalf of the minority community of the State they were demanding two tickets each from Bhopal, Ujjain and Jabalpur division, one each from Rewa and Gwalior divisions. The demand was also made that the party should field minority candidates from those assembly constituencies where secular voters and party workers and leaders have majority, because not all the party leaders and voters have remain secular and it has been observed that whenever a minority leader is fielded by the party the Congress leaders backbites and join hands with rivals to defeat their own party candidate, he added. He said that the party should provide tickets to 2 Sikhs, 2 Bodhs, besides Jain, Christians, Muslims and other minority of the state and a minimum of a dozen tickets should be provide to the minority community of the State.