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This is an archive article published on November 15, 2013

AICC minority cell chief faces opposition from party detractors

Within less than a month of his appointment as the chairman of the minority cell of All India Congress Committee (AICC),a rebellion has broken out against Khurshid Saiyed in the state. Saiyed,who was general secretary of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC),is being openly targeted by his detractors in the state party unit. A week […]

Within less than a month of his appointment as the chairman of the minority cell of All India Congress Committee (AICC),a rebellion has broken out against Khurshid Saiyed in the state.

Saiyed,who was general secretary of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC),is being openly targeted by his detractors in the state party unit. A week ago,a meeting of more than 100 Muslim Congress leaders from all over the state was held here to demand removal of Saiyed.

The meeting,convened by GPCC’s minority cell president Vazirkhan Pathan,is reported to have been attended by Congress Muslim leaders from all over the state. The participants,reportedly,openly spoke against Saiyed and resolved to write to party vice-president Rahul Gandhi,seeking his removal.

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Speaking to The Indian Express,Pathan said there were several reasons for opposing Saiyed.

“First,he does not hold the stature of an all-India leader. He is not known to party workers even in Gujarat,but was promoted to the national level overnight. He is too small in capacity compared to those like Ghulam Nabi Azad,Abdur Rahman Antulay and C K Jaffer Sharief,who earlier held this post,” he argued.

“Secondly,he does not have the capacity to understand the national issues,pertaining to the community,and hold a dialogue with community leaders from Kashmir to Kerala and then communicate it back to the party’s central leadership,” Pathan went on to say. Stating that “it was not a good decision to appoint Saiyed as AICC’s minority cell president,” Pathan claimed that Muslim leaders all over the state were against him.

He said that more than 200 fax messages have already been sent to Rahul Gandhi,apprising him of the situation and requested him to ensure that he was immediately removed from the post.

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“Someone having national stature either from Gujarat or any other state be appointed on this post,” he said.

Asked why did they not protest when Saiyed was appointed on October 19,a senior Congress Muslim leader J V Moni said,“We were not consulted at all. We were not even intimated.” He said that they came to know about his appointment through newspapers only.

A Muslim Congress leader from Surat said that even Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel was not consulted on the appointment of Saiyed.

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