Deccan Chronicle

Cancer patient duped of `2L, clergy booked

BJP to speed up its recruitmen­t drive of leaders from other parties

- DC CORRESPOND­ENT HYDERABAD, FEB. 23

MOHAMMED JALEEL Uddin Qadeer requested that the `2 lakhs he gave be returned but Maulana Ali Quadri did not give the money back.

A case has been registered against Maulana Ali Quadri by the Hyderabad city police for allegedly cheating a cancer patient and collecting `2 lakh on pretext of arranging money from the CM’s Relief Fund.

The Hyderabad city police booked a case against clergy Maulana Ali Quadri, 50, following a complaint which stated that he had allegedly taken money to help a cancer patient and cheated.

According to the Banjara Hills police, they received a complaint from Mohammed Jaleel Uddin Qadeer Sidddiqui, who said that he had gone through colon cancer surgery and needed

`14.5 lakhs from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to cover the expenses. “He had approached Ali Quadri who he came to know is well acquainted with Hyderabad Parliament­arian Asaduddin Owaisi. He then contacted Quadri and met him at his brother-in-law’s house behind Azam Hospital in Hussain Alam. Quadri said that he will arrange the amount in about four days and had asked for

`4.5 lakhs as commission. Jaleel arranged

`2 lakhs immediatel­y and handed over the cash along with his son Bilal including the hospital’s estimation form, Aadhaar card, passport copy, and cancer reports. On November 26, 2020 Mohammed Jaleel was asked to send him one more set of all the documents which was promptly sent again,” police said, adding that Jaleel never saw the money.

He requested that the `2 lakhs he gave be returned but Maulana Ali Quadri did not give the money back. Hence, he requested the police to take necessary action against Maulana Ali Quadri as per law.

Based on the complaint the police booked a case under Section 420 IPC under the zero FIR and transferre­d the case to Charminar police station for further investigat­ion.

While more Congress leaders are increasing­ly given to insecurity over their future, the Bharatiya Janata Party is having a field day in its recruitmen­t drive, given the growing perception that the saffron party can alone challenge and defeat the TRS in the state. Several congress senior leaders, including former ministers and MPs, are already in a queue to join the BJP, whose fortunes are on a clear ascendency since the Dubbak bypoll.

In the last one week, two important leaders of Congress joined the BJP. Medchal district president and former MLA Kuna Srisailam Goud and Adilabad district leader, who contested from Kagaznagar Palvai Harish Kumar the joined BJP in presence of Telangana BJP party affairs in-charge Tarun Chugh.

The BJP welcomed these leaders from the Congress as it has been since Dubbaka and GHMC elections.

With the graduate MLC election process ongoing, the BJP has decided to catalyse this attrition and speed up its recruitmen­t drive of leaders from other parties. The BJP is currently focused on Congress, its principal opponent at the national level. If BJP succeeds in demoralisi­ng the Congress in the state, it anyway becomes the de facto challenger for the TRS for the next assembly election.

With several former ministers and MPs having already joined BJP, and more in queue, the BJP can now afford to get selective and is focusing on leaders with a good public image.

BJP national vice-president DK Aruna has invited several leaders, including a former deputy chief minister, a former minister and a spokespers­on of Congress to quit and join the saffron party.

The former deputy chief minister reportedly wants a guarantee of the Zaheerabad Lok Sabha ticket while the former minister is seeking a surety for his past assembly segment.

BJP senior leaders shared that former MLA of Medchal Kichennaga­ri Laxma Reddy and former Member of Parliament Konda Vishveswar

Reddy also are in touch with the BJP party but both leaders are asking for the Chevella Lok Sabha seat. The discussion is going on inside the party on how to handle such contenders with similar claims. The BJP is likely to give importance for Dalit leaders, a community which has got neglected in the Congress and is angry with the TRS for not fulfilling various promises.

Rumours are abound in Congress that its Hyderabad MP candidate and Nampally in-charge Feroz Khan is likely to join the BJP. Sources say that party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar interacted with Feroz Khan twice and asked him to join the BJP.

From the districts, Adilabad former MP Ramesh Rathod and Nirmal former MLA Yeleti Maheswar Reddy are likely to join BJP in a few days. Both leaders are from Congress and had contested in the last elections.

Congress party Mahila wing president Nerella Sharada is also likely to leave the Congress due to group rivalries. Mruthyunja­yam, a former Congress leader who recently joined the BJP, is reportedly in touch with Nerella Sharada and is trying to woo her into the BJP.

A former TRS MP from erstwhile Nalgonda district is also seeking to join the BJP due to the party not giving any importance to him, after he lost the Lok Sabha elections. If he leaves, the constituen­cy-level and second-level leaders are likely to go along with him into the BJP.

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