Hyderabad: The contest for Nampally, which is usually a cakewalk for the AIMIM, promises to be more intense this time around, with three-time Congress candidate Mohammed Feroz intensifying his campaign.
The MIM candidate, former mayor Majid Hussain, an aide of MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, will face a tough time, with many locals saying they were more attached to Feroz Khan who had done considerable work in the constituency, even as they admitted to supporting the AIMIM in general.
“I issued a ‘Feroz Khan guarantee card’, which assures nutritious food to every pregnant woman and newborn, and free corporate education to over 1,000 needy students yearly,” the Congress candidate said. He promised to make Nampally and resolve the Mangar Basti drain and water stagnation problem.”
He claimed he was manhandled by AIMIM activists during my campaign. “I was attacked by Jaffar Hussian's brothers Mushtaq and Mukthar in 2018 at the Rajendranagar police station,” he said referring to the incumbent MIM MLA who has been shifted to Yakutpura now. “They fired five bullets at me. I am not scared of the AIMIM.”
Khan claimed he had identified around 1 lakh bogus votes in the constituency, accusing the AIMIM of using these to allegedly rig the elections, and said he had provided evidence to the Telangana Chief Electoral Office (CEO) and the Telangana High Court.
The High Court on Monday directed the Chief Electoral Officer to decide Khan’s plea within a week Khan’s plea on the appointment of polling agents.
Khan’s supporters hailed his public work. “During the 2014 and 2018 elections, there was a huge scarcity of drinking water in our area. Feroz Khan, with his own money, provided drinking water through tanks,” Asifa Begum, a resident of Afzalsagar, said.
“It is no matter that in the previous election, he was not able to win. He has been resolving the civic issues and providing financial aid to the needy, which no other politician does,” said Prithvi Rao, of Aghapura.
