HYDERABAD: The Congress has decided to focus on strengthening the party in the Old City and has set a target of digitally enrolling at least 50,000 voters as members from the seven Assembly constituencies falling under the Hyderabad parliamentary constituency represented by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi.
Earlier, the Congress had never gone aggressively in its membership drive in the Old City as it used to maintain friendly ties with the AIMIM. But in the last 10 years, the gap between the two parties has only been growing after the AIMIM severed its ties with the Congress following its MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi being sent to jail in a hate speech case during N Kiran Kumar Reddy-led Congress government in the combined Andhra Pradesh State in January 2013. There are 50 municipal divisions in the seven Assembly constituencies represented by AIMIM MLAs where the Congress will aggressively pursue digital membership enrolment drive.
“Previously, the membership of the Congress in the Old City was only about 5,000. We used to find it difficult to even get agents in several polling booths. The party did not focus on building a base in this part of the city due to its friendly ties with the AIMIM. Now, we have set a target of enrolling 50,000 voters as Congress members by the end of March,” Telangana Congress minority cell state president Shaik Abdullah Sohail said. Sources said the Congress leaders who have been given the task of enrolling voters as members of party are facing a tough time from the AIMIM and BJP leaders.
“Despite various pressure tactics by AIMIM and BJP, our party workers have been doing a great job in enrolling voters from both Muslim and Hindu communities,” said Sohail.
