Wary of Muslims tilting to SDPI, AIMIM, Congress hold strategy meet

Worried over losing minority votes, mainly those of Muslims, the Congress top brass held a meeting with the party’s state leaders here on Tuesday, to formulate a strategy to retain their “core” vote bank.

Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi held a brainstorming meeting attended by general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, general secretary incharge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D K Shivakumar.

In the meeting, which lasted for more than four hours, Congress poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu made a presentation about the recent survey conducted in the state, sources said.

According to the survey, 20 to 30% of minority votes, mainly those of Muslims, had moved towards parties like SDPI and AIMIM.

The SDPI, which was limited to coastal Karnataka and Kodagu district, is making its presence felt across the state.

This is considered as a major threat to the Congress’ core vote bank.

The AIMIM is getting good support from Muslim communities in some places, mostly Hyderabad Karnataka region, the survey report said.

At the meeting, Siddaramaiah is learnt to have said that the Congress failed to stand by the minorities over issues like hijab, halal, restriction on Muslim traders in festivals and the anti-conversion bill.

This was the main reason for the Muslim community moving away from the party, he said.

“We should always stand by them without any hesitation,” the former CM is learnt to have suggested, the sources said.

Rahul felt that the state leaders should take up minorities’ issues so that they don’t feel betrayed by the Congress.

“Since only the Congress can stand by the minorities, we should always fight for their cause,” Rahul is learnt to have said at the meeting.

According to a Congress leader, Muslims constitute 12.91% of Karnataka’s population and are electorally significant in 20-odd urban seats.

The community is capable of changing the fortunes of candidates in at least 85 to 90 seats, said the leader.