Mangaluru: Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) state president Abdul Majeed Mysuru accused the Congress of trying to divide Muslim leadership in Davanagere South constituency.Majeed told reporters on Tuesday that Congress is targeting only Muslim leaders on charges of indiscipline in the party. Muslim leaders in the Congress should question this, he said, referring to senior Congress functionary Naseer Ahmed being relieved of his duties as political secretary, alleging anti-party activities during the byelection to the Davanagere South constituency.“Do they find only Muslim leaders to take disciplinary action? There were allegations of anti-party activities in the past, and no action was taken against the Congress functionaries then. Minister Byrathi Suresh contested as an independent candidate; Congress MLAs cross-voted; Late Shamanoor Shivashankarappa gave an open call in favour of BJP candidate BY Raghavendra during the election in Shivamogga; and BJP leaders openly claimed that 14 Congress MLAs were sent to the BJP back in 2018 by Siddaramaiah himself. However, the Congress neither conducted an inquiry nor took disciplinary action,” he said.In Davangere South, nearly 70% Ahinda votes, comprising 85,000 Muslim voters and nearly 7,000 Christian voters. People, including Muslims and minority leaders, urged the Congress to field a Muslim candidate there. However, the Congress did not consider this demand. This has led to widespread opposition and an anti-Congress wave in favour of the SDPI. Congress is following the ‘divide and rule’ when it comes to Muslim leadership, he said, adding that people of Karnataka will teach the Congress a lesson in 2028.Further, he refuted the allegations of minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan funding SDPI and questioned, “Why should a leader of another party fund the SDPI?”
