Congress brainstorms over loss of Muslim vote in Maharashtra

Concerned over the loss of Muslim vote to parties such as All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), Congress is planning to take some fresh measures to attract the minority community.
A meeting of its minority cell was held here today and was attended by state unit president Ashok Chavan and AICC in- charge of the state Mohan Prakash among others.
The BJP-led Maharashtra government's recent decisions such as the ban on bull-slaughter and withdrawal of reservations for Muslims were criticised at the meeting.
"We want to strengthen the minority cell by forming a monitoring committee and raise various issues," Congress MLC Naseem Khan said afterwards.

Chavan said there was a conspiracy to polarise the society with comments about disenfranchisement of Muslims or the advise to Hindus to produce more children.
The meeting also discussed the performance of MIM, which made a debut in the Assembly last year and made impressive gains in the Aurangabad municipal elections last month.

"MIM's support is going down. The party had got 25,000 votes in Bandra (E) constituency (in October 2014 elections) which came down to 15,000 in the recent by-poll. Congress's voteshare was greater in the Aurangabad compared to the last year. MIM and Shiv Sena are in the same mould. We have to push our secular agenda strongly," said Khan.

Other Congress leaders present at the meeting included Husain Dalwai, Baba Siddhiqi and Aslam Sheikh.
"There was a discussion about giving equal attention to all the minority communities, giving tickets to members of other communities and raising their issues aggressively," Congress spokesperson Al Naseer Zakaria said.
Khan said the meeting had been called to discuss the upcoming municipal elections in Vasai-Virar, Kolhapur, Gondia and Bhandara.
The party opposed the state government's decision to waive the agricultural loans because it would benefit only banks and moneylenders and not farmers, he said.