Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail launched a sharp attack on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, alleging that he was trying to make the Muslim community forget two years of unfulfilled promises by inducting former cricketer Md Azharuddin into the Telangana cabinet. Sohail called the move a political eyewash born out of fear and pressure ahead of the Jubilee Hills by-election.
“Revanth Reddy wants Muslims to believe that one cabinet post can erase two years of denial and discrimination,” Sohail said. He recalled that the Chief Minister kept the cabinet without a single Muslim minister for 23 months and was now seeking praise for correcting his own mistake.
Sohail said Azharuddin’s induction on October 31, even while the Model Code of Conduct remained in force, exposed Congress’s insecurity. “This has never happened before in Telangana’s political history. The government did not act out of conviction but fear of defeat in Jubilee Hills,” he said.
BRS accuses Revanth Reddy of offering token representation to Muslims under electoral pressure.
Sohail argued that the Chief Minister was portraying the delayed cabinet expansion as a generous gesture toward Muslims when it was driven by political calculation. “Instead of apologising for excluding Muslims for two years, he acts as if he gave a gift. Representation is a right, not a favour,” he remarked.
The BRS leader reminded that Revanth Reddy earlier justified the absence of a Muslim minister, claiming there were no Muslim MLAs or MLCs. “When Amer Ali Khan was an MLC for 13 months, he was ignored. Now, without a Muslim MLA or MLC, Azharuddin is inducted. What changed? Not the Constitution—only the fear of losing Jubilee Hills,” he said.
Calling the move “too little, too late,” Sohail accused the Congress of failing to deliver on its Minorities Declaration. “Where are the ₹1,000 crore subsidised loans, the Minorities Youth Commission, or Abdul Kalam Taufa-e-Taleem scholarships? Not one rupee reached beneficiaries,” he alleged.
He said the Congress had mastered optics over substance. “The Revanth Reddy government believes in headlines, not in help. Muslims expected empowerment but got photo-op politics,” Sohail said.
Urging Jubilee Hills voters to reject the Congress, he stated, “Let this by-election remind everyone that no community can be misled forever. If the government can act only under pressure, it should remain under pressure.”
Sohail concluded, “BRS forced Congress to correct one mistake. Many more remain—from unspent budgets to unkept promises. Telangana needs accountability, not arrogance.”
