NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi brought back two former Lok Sabha MPs-ex-cricket captain Mohd Azharuddin and Sandeep Dikshit — from their political wilderness and gave them key party roles.
Azharduddin, who represented UP’s Moradabad parliamentary constituency from 2009-14, lost his seat in 2014 and had not been seen much in party events. On Friday, the former cricket captain was named as working president of the Telangana unit just days ahead of the Dec 7 polls.
Sources said the move came as a last minute resort in Telangana, which the party helped take shape in 2014 but was wiped out in both the assembly and national polls. Party managers sense they can get mileage from the unfulfilled promises made by the TRS, which ruled the state till recently.
For that reason, the party deployed former chief Sonia Gandhi to campaign in Hyderabad last week as Rahul accused TRS of being hand in glove with the BJP. Sandeep Dikshit, who represented the Delhi East parliamentary constituency under the UPA, and was part of the party’s research cell ahead of the 2014 national elections, too had remained out of party politics over the past four years.
‘KCR’s family is like Alibaba & Char Chor
Navjot Singh Sidhu mocked TRS chief saying, Telangana is being looted by KCR’s family which is like the Alibaba Char Chor in the newly-formed state. “KCR, KTR, Kavita, Harish Rao, Santosh are looting Telangana people. Like PM Modi’s Rafale scam, KCR has done another scam. By renaming Pranahita Chevella project and increasing its cost from `50,000 cr to `90,000 cr, KCR has swallowed `40,000 cr. With his misrule and corruption, KCR has pushed a surplus state into `2.20L cr debt,” said Sidhu.