Siasat Editor Zahed Ali Khan has decided to sever ties with the Telugu Desam Party following its growing proximity with the BJP. He has also decided to bid farewell to electoral politics.
Mr. Khan, who is a Polit Bureau member, is likely to resign from the party in a day or two. “The moment party president N. Chandrababu Naidu formally announces a tie-up with the saffron party, I will quit,” said Mr. Khan, a prominent Muslim face of Telugu Desam.
Mr. Khan contested the Hyderabad Parliamentary seat on a TDP ticket in 2009 against Majlis president Asaduddin Owaisi and managed to put up a good fight. Many feel Mr. Khan’s decision to withdraw from politics is a sign of thawing of ice between him and the Majlis.
However, Mr. Khan described it as a figment of imagination. “There is no question of compromise with the Majlis,” he said.
His decision to withdraw from politics is the result of the lack of a principled stand among politicians. “The TDP is forging an alliance with BJP and TRS with Majlis. In this situation, where do I fit in,” asks Mr. Khan. He doesn’t think highly of the Aam Admi Party, which wanted him to contest on its ticket from Hyderabad Parliamentary seat.
