Syed Shahezadi likely to take on Akbaruddin Owaisi

Adilabad: The BJP is expected to field Ms Syed Shahezadi of Adilabad, a ABVP national executive council member, who recently completed her postgraduation in political science from Osmania University, against MIM’s former Assembly floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi from Chandrayangutta in Hyderabad.

She joined the BJP in the presence of party president K. Laxman and party former floor leader G. Kishan Reddy and others on Saturday. The party high command is said to have decided to field Ms Shahezadi against Mr Owaisi.

She is seen as an outspoken leader, and critical of the TRS and caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Ms Shahezadi was seen as a firebrand in ABVP circles, and has emerged as the Muslim woman face of the BJP. She is regularly invited for discussions on religious issues by TV channels. She makes it a point to wear a saffron chunni.

She strongly condemned the government’s exterment of Swami Paripoor-nananda from the city and was in the forefront to welcome him back to the city when the court overturned the order.

Ms Shahezadi had criticised MIM president Asaduddin Owasi for refusing to say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and criticised Mr Akbarudin Owaisi for his controversial comments on Hindu gods and goddesses in the past. She calls the MIM a “Razakars Party”.

In her recent interviews, Ms Shahezadi had ridiculed Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision to extern the Sri Peetham seer from the capital and said she had never expected him to treat a Hindu seer so badly. “Even people in Saudi Arabia respect Hindu swamijis when they visit their places though Islamic laws are strictly implemented in Saudi Arabia,” she said.

She has also challenged Mr Chandrasekhar Rao to conduct recruitment tests on Id-ul-Fitr and Christmas, while critising the government for holding the entrance test for police personnel on Raksha Bandhan and Krishnashtami.

Ms Shahezadi said she would campaign for the reforms brought in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.