Minorities can help Cong improve tally in MP elections: Khan

Bhopal: Minorities in Madhya Pradesh can help Congress improve its tally in the next state Assembly elections, party leader Aslam Sher Khan said Wednesday. "There are 45 Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh where Muslims can play a decisive role in the elections slated for next year," Khan told reporters here.

Aslam said he was peeved at the manner in which only a few members of the state Congress coordination committee were taken to meet party President Sonia Gandhi recently in New Delhi. It appeared that there were two classes in the Congress and he belonged to the "cattle class", he said. Khan, a former hockey player, said he had been told that he did not enjoy support among the people, but he would now show how much support he had. When asked about his criticism by United Minorities Organisation, he said there was no need to say anything about it as its leader had praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was "responsible for riots in 2002." On Monday, the United Minorities Organisation had accused Aslam Sher Khan of merely doing a lip service to the cause of Muslims. "Khan should spell out what he had done for Muslims when he was the minister of state in the PMO. Aslam was a renowned hockey player but had done nothing for the game by way of opening academies for nurturing hockey talent in the country," organisation`s general secretary Azmat Shah Makki had alleged. "Even though Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had refused to implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee and yet Khan praised him. This alone shows how much of a well-wisher he is of the minorities and how much loyal he is to the Congress," Makki had said. PTI