'Want To Contest From...': Ex-Cricketer Md Azharuddin Reveals Telangana Poll Plans

Azharuddin, who is Telangana Congress working president, said he wanted to contest from Jubilee Hills assembly seat in Hyderabad.

Telangana Congress working president Mohammad Azharuddin

Source : Getty

Former Indian cricket team captain and Telangana Congress working president Mohammad Azharuddin told ABP that he would contest the upcoming Assembly elections and not the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Azharuddin said he wanted to contest from Jubilee Hills assembly seat in Hyderabad.

Azharuddin, who hails from Hyderabad, was made the Telangana Congress working president in 2018. Assembly elections are scheduled to held in Telangana this year along with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.

Speaking to ANI on the Congress' prospects in Telangana, Azharuddin said, "Congress is doing well. The trends are in favour of our party. We will have to work really hard in this election,"

The former cricketer, however, said Congress had not set a target on the number of seats it wanted to win. "A lot of people are saying we will win xy seats, but it will be known only after election. I will contest from Hyderabad," the cricketer-turned-politician further said.

READ | Former MLA And Actor Jayasudha Joins BJP Ahead Of Telangana Assembly Elections

In 2009, Azharuddin had contested the Lok Sabha election from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and won. However, in the next general elections in 2014, he was fielded from Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan and lost. He was not fielded by the Congress in the 2019 election.

The Congress, which is making all out efforts to defeat the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), has set up a 29-member state election committee led by Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy. 

The BRS led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been ruling Telangana since 2014.

Earlier this week, BRS working president and minister KT Rama Rao exuded confidence that the party would sweep the assembly election and also win all 17 seats in the Lok Sabha election in 2024.

In 2018, K Chandrashekar Rao secured a landslide victory by winning 87 of the 119 seats. The party upped its tally from 63 in 2014. The BJP could bag just one seat.