"Pitch Good, Hopefully Will Win": Congress' Azharuddin On Telangana Polls

Congress leader and ex-Lok Sabha MP Mohammad Azharuddin is taking guard for the next innings in his political career - the former India cricket captain is his party's candidate for the Jubilee Hills seat in Hyderabad in this month's Telangana election. Azharuddin, who led India in 47 Tests and 174 One Day Internationals, faces a strong challenge from the incumbent lawmaker - the ruling BRS' Maganti Gopinath - but told NDTV he is confident of a good result after the state votes on November 30.

"The pitch is very good. I'm working hard and, inshallah, hopefully will prevail," he said, swatting away the challenge of his rival, whom he accused of encouraging "goondaism".

"In last nine years, no work has been done here and people are fed up, and are living in fear. He (Maganti Gopinath) only promotes 'goondaism'! Even now, his men are scaring away people working for me... they are putting fake cases with help from the police."

"This is not the way a MLA should be. The other day he was standing next to KT Rama Rao (a Telangana minister and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's son) and saying, 'I will remove 'rowdyism''. But he himself is a rowdy... so how will he do anything?"

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The Jubilee Hills seat - one of the poshest areas in Hyderabad - is home to over one lakh Muslim voters. For the Congress, fielding Azharuddin from here was an obvious option.

That said, his Muslim identity wasn't the only reason the Congress picked Azhar, party sources had told NDTV, pointing to the emotional connection between him and the city.

The large number of Muslim voters is also why Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM has fielded its candidate - Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin, a municipal corporator with influence over voters in the Shaikpet area.

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Speaking to NDTV, Azharuddin lashed out at the AIMIM candidate and accused the party of fielding a candidate simply to split votes and "doing a disservice to (Muslim) community".

"AIMIM is only here to split votes and make the Muslim community lose. This is what they have been doing for several years... in Uttar Pradesh, in Bihar. They are doing the same thing - just want to split votes and do disservice to community," he said.

The former cricketer also attacked the BRS, which he said had failed to do substantial work in the past five years. "The government has many welfare schemes but it has failed to deliver... now people know they are only talking and not doing anything. Inshallah, we will form the next government," he said.

The 2023 Telangana election marks Azhar's electoral debut in his native state, and both the Congress and he will hope for a winning start in Hyderabad. He was successful on his Lok Sabha election debut too - winning from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad in 2009. His second outing was a flop - he lost from Rajasthan's Sawai Madhapur in 2014 - but one of India's best known cricketers remains unworried.

"Have to learn from failure. Should have stuck to Moradabad in 2014 but sometimes you take a decision that doesn't go in the right direction... this is what you learn from life."

The Congress is seeking to replace the BRS government in the state. Voting for 119 assembly seats in Telangana is set to take place on November 30 and results will be declared on December 3.

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