HYDERABAD: After actors, it is now the turn of editors to try their luck in politics. Editor of ‘Siasat’ Urdu daily Zahid Ali Khan’s intention to contest the Parliamentary polls has been known for some time. On Thursday, he launched a fresh broadside against the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). The veteran editor is planning to contest the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat as an independent.
Zahid Ali Khan met Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) I V Subba Rao to apprise him of the situation in the Old City and addressed the media later. He said the people of Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency were hungry for a change and this would favour his candidature and enable him to win. “It will be a tough election no doubt because of the way politics has shaped up here in the last five years, but I am confident,” he said. He expressed confidence that he would win a majority of the Muslim and Hindu votes. The proportion of Muslims to Hindus in the Hyderabad constituency is 70:30. The Grand Alliance has pledged its support and the MBT and the Praja Rajyam Party have promised to support him, Zahid Ali Khan claimed. Explaining that he would be contesting against the MIM, the Congress and the BJP, he said the toughest fight would be against the MIM because of its extensive support base in the Old City. “The ‘goonda raj’ of the MIM has to be eradicated and a fresh start made,” he said. Khan apprised the CEO about the names of MIM leaders that were plastered on public property throughout the constituency and urged him to take steps to remove poll graffiti and banners of the MIM on Government property.
