HYDERABAD: He always ends up with the short end of the stick. Every time he wants to contest he is left looking for a new constituency. In 2002 he was elected as a corporator from the Chanchalguda municipal division. But in 2009 this division was reserved for BC (E) and the name changed to Chowni. He shifted to Azampura division and won comfortably. And now again he is robbed of his ward with Azampura getting reserved for BC women.
That is Amjed Ullah Khan for you, the lone ex-corporator of Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT). An arch rival of the Majlis, he sees a conspiracy in reservation of the Azampura division for women. “The reservation tool is being used by the Majlis-TRS to suppress my voice,’’ says the MBT leader.
Amjed Ullah has been playing a role beyond the ambit of a corporator. Taking a cue from his firebrand father, the late Amanullah Khan, who fell out from the Majlis and formed the MBT, he has been in the forefront of every protest. “This is the reward I got for raising my voice against the Alair encounter,’’ says Amjed Ullah, who uses the social media to address the issues.
However, he remains unfazed by the development. He claims a groundswell of sympathy from people and is confident of winning from wherever he contests. “We will contest the Azampura seat by fielding a woman,’’says his elder brother, Dr Khayam Khan, who is also the MBT president.
The only party to stoutly oppose the Majlis in the old city, MBT plans to contest 25 to 30 divisions in the six Assembly segments of Charminar, Chandrayangutta, Bahadurpura, Yakutpura, Malakpet and Karwan. How many seats will it win? “We are confident of putting up a good show,’’ is all that Khayam Khan would say.
He is highly critical of the way the reservation of wards is done in the core city leading to denial of representation in the GHMC to Arab and Shia communities. While Barkas ward is reserved for BC women, Chandrayangutta is set aside for BC (General). Both these divisions are home to different Arab tribes. Similarly, the Shia dominated Noorkahan Bazar division is split and merged with Patherghatti and Dabeerpura as a result election of Shia candidates are pretty slim, Khan says and blames the Majlis for this scenario.
Women from the minority community are generally reluctant to come into the public life. Even if they contest and win they wouldn’t be accessible and it is their spouses who will run the show, says Amjed Ullah.
What are the issues he would be highlighting? The Old City is faced with many civic problems like bad roads, overflowing drainage and defunct street lights.
If the MBT wins a good number of seats in the polls it would address these problems. “We will also try to get the Metro rail for the Old City,’’ he assures.