There appears to be more to the Congress high command refusing permission to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to field the sixth candidate in the MLC elections that what meets the eye.

According to the sources, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao, who was apparently panicky over the Congress party’s decision to field the sixth MLC candidate, used the Muslim card effectively to force the high command to drop the plan. He reportedly asked TRS candidate Mahmood Ali to approach former minister and Congress candidate Mohammad Ali Shabbir and convey the message that any attempt to deny the MLC seat to the TRS would send wrong signals to the minority community.

Shabbir was also convinced of the argument and brought it to the notice of his godfather Ghulam Nabi Azad, the AICC in-charge of Andhra affairs. He told Azad that had the TRS fielded any other candidate, the Congress could field the sixth candidate; but since Mahmood Ali is a minority candidate, the Congress would get the blame of deliberately defeating a Muslim and that would further distance minorities from the Congress. Moreover, there was every possibility that the MIM would have supported the TRS to defeat the sixth candidate of the Congress.

Agreeing with this, Azad told the chief minister to drop the plan for sixth candidate, say sources.