Mohammed Azharuddin: Homecoming Or Not? (image: facebook.com/azharflicks)
Mohammed Azharuddin is an ex-Indian cricket captain contested as a Telangana Congress candidate for Jubilee Hills constituency at the Telangana Assembly election. Jubilee Hills, one of the 15 constituencies belong to Hyderabad region, in this assembly segment, minority votes play a significant role in election. The segment comprises 1.2 lakh Muslim votes constituting around 35 per cent of the total vote share.
In the election fray, Mohammed Azharuddin is fighting against BRS leader and sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath, AIMIM”s Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin, local councillor and popular face in the city, and BJP”s Lankala Deepak Reddy. Congress alleged that AIMIM, being a “friendly ally” to BRS has put up candidate in Jubilee Hills to split the community vote.
Hailing from Hyderabad, the 60-year-old Mohammad Azharuddin traces a remarkable career in cricket. Began his cricket career in 1984, Mohammed Azharuddin”s playing style was termed as right-handed middle order batsmen and a medium fast bowler. He played 99 test matches and 334 ODI matches for Indian team. Besides, he was also the the captain of the Indian team during 1990-91 and 1995 Asia cups, 1996 Cricket World Cup semi-finals. His cricket career came to sudden end when he was handed a life ban in 2000 by BCCI for the alleged involvement in match fixing. In 2012, Andhra Pradesh High Court revoked the ban.
After declaring ban, Mohammad Azharuddin joined Congress party in 2009, and elected as a member of parliament for Uttar Pradesh”s Moradabad. In 2018, he became the President of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC). Furthermore, in September 2019, he was elected as the president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association.
This is the first time Mohammed Azaruddin is contesting from his native state. And ahead of the Telangana Assembly elections, four cases have been registered against him. The administrator-cum-politician, has been accused of siphoning funds during his term as president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA). The cricketer has already acquired bail for all four cases; he dismissed the allegations and claimed it as attempt to “ruin my reputation.” In social media platform X, he wrote:
I have seen news reports that have reported that FIR”s have been registered against me on complaints by CEO, HCA.
I want to state that these are all false & motivated allegations & I am in no way connected with the allegations.
I will reply to the motivated allegations against…— Mohammed Azharuddin (@azharflicks) October 19, 2023
In November 29, a day before the election a case was registered against the cricketer-turned-politician based on a complaint lodged by a sub-inspector working as part of the Election Commission’s (EC) flying squad for reportedly violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
As results announce on December 3, will native state favour Mohammad Azaharuddin or AIMIM”s attempt to split Muslim votes going to affect his chances of winning, and advance BRS”s chances to for a second term at constituency, the results will tell.
