Telangana elections: Congress leaders release manifesto, state unit denies favouring Muslims

Hyderabad, Nov 27: Congress leaders released manifesto on Tuesday after allegations surfaced on the party favouring the Muslim community in their draft manifesto.

The party's state unit said that all such reports are completely baseless and fabricated.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson and treasurer, Guddu Narayana Reddy, clarified that they do not favour any particular community, adding that only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would resort to such measures, according to ANI.

"The allegation of us having a biased manifesto is baseless. We are a secular country, there is no particular community that would be sided by any particular party, except the ruling party BJP," he told ANI.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said it was the responsibility of the opposition party to ensure that the sentiments on the ground were reflected in their articulation of the manifesto.

"The Congress party has never done communal politics. The Congress party does not believe in communal politics. If there has been one all-enveloping umbrella which has accommodated flowers of every shade and hue, it is the Indian National Congress. So, on our pluralistic or secular credentials, we neither need a certificate from anybody nor do we need to answer for that," he said.

Reports had surfaced in certain sections of media that the Congress had released a draft manifesto with poll promises to the Muslim community. However, the party claimed that they have not yet even released any such document for the state.

(With PTI inputs)