Bangalore, July 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's (KCR's) decision of appointing tennis star Sania Mirza as the ambassador of the state.

Who is Sania Mirza?

• She was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Later she was brought to her ancestral home in Hyderabad.
• She married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik in 2010.

What is the recent controversy?

• Telangana BJP leader K Laxman on 23 July 2013, called Sania Mirza as "daughter-in-law" of Pakistan.
• Laxman questioned Sania's credentials to be the brand ambassador of Telangana.
• BJP claimed Sania never participated in the agitation for a separate state of Telangana.
• Laxman also raised Sania's "non-local" status as well as her marriage to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Real reason(s) behind BJP's decision of opposing Sania:

• KCR recently refused to provide scholarships to poor children who were born and brought up in Hyderabad but belong to Seemandhra.
• Opposition raised questions asking if students belonging to Seemandhra are being branded as outsiders and denied scholarships then why a person born in Mumbai and connected with Pakistan was chosen to be the the brand ambassador of the state.

Politics in Sania Mirza controversy:

• According to BJP, TRS appointed Sania as Telangana's ambassador just to appease minorities in the state.
• BJP claimed that TRS has been trying to woo the minorities in view of the coming elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.

What is Sania Mirza saying?

• I am married to Mr Shoaib Malik, who is from Pakistan. I am an Indian, who will remain an Indian until the end of my life.
• It hurts me that so much precious time of prominent politicians and the media is being wasted on a petty issue of my being appointed the Brand Ambassador of my State of Telangana.
• I sincerely believe that this precious time should be spent on solving the more urgent issues of our State and country.
  
  

  It hurts me that so much precious time of prominent politicians and the media is being wasted on a petty issue of my being-

  — Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) July 24, 2014

Sania Mirza's connection with Telangana:

• She was born in Mumbai as her mother needed to be at a specialist hospital since she was seriously unwell at the time of Sania's birth.
• She was brought to home to Hyderabad when she was 3 weeks old.
• Sania's forefathers have lived in Hyderabad for more than a century.
• Her grandfather -- Mohammed Zaffer Mirza had started his career as an Engineer in Nizam's Railways in Hyderabad in 1948 and died in his ancestral home in Hyderabad.
• Her great, great grandfather -- Mr Aziz Mirza was the Home Secretary under the Nizam in Hyderabad.
• Aziz Mirza had worked tirelessly for relief works during the historic Musi River floods of 1908.

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