Telangana CM, Ministers Skip Iftar Party After EC Refuses Permission

(MENAFN- IANS) Hyderabad, March 26 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and his Cabinet colleagues skipped the iftar party hosted by the state government on Tuesday after the Election Commission refused to give permission for their participation in view of the Model Code of Conduct for the biennial election to the Telangana Legislative Council.

Chief Minister, state ministers, MPs, state legislators and others were to participate in the Iftar party and dinner at L.B. Stadium in Hyderabad.

As Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force on Monday with the announcement of the schedule for the election to the Legislative Council from Hyderabad Local Authorities' Constituency, the state government sought permission from the Election Commission of India to conduct Iftar/dinner throughout the state including Hyderabad and to allow the Chief Minister, ministers and other public representatives to participate.

The Election Commissioner, however, conveyed to the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana, that the proposal had not been accepted.

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) released to the media a copy of the letter received by the Chief Electoral Officer from the Election Commission.

Officials of the minority welfare department and various minority institutions like Waqf Board, Haj Committee and Urdu Academy attended the Iftar.

Prominent personalities from various walks of life were invited to the annual Iftar party.

Earlier, the government came under flak from various quarters for reportedly spending Rs 70 crore on the Iftar party. Various Muslim organisations, including the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) had urged the government to use the money to pay arrears for fee reimbursement of minority students.

Welfare Party of India (WPI) had called for a boycott of the Iftar party over unfulfilled promises of the Congress government and lack of Muslim representation in the state cabinet.

Activists Lubna Sarwath, Anwarullah Khan, Syed Ismail and others had sent a letter to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to consider the reallocation of Rs 70 crore on Iftar towards education, employment and empowerment of minorities.

The BJP had also found fault with the government for allocating Rs 70 crore for the Iftar party. The BJP leaders slammed the government for allocating a huge amount for Iftar while claiming that it has no money to pay salaries to the government employees.

BJP leaders referred to the demands from within the Muslim community to re-allocate the money for education and welfare programmes.

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