Amaravati: Senior leader of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and former chairman of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Mohammed Shariff Ahmed has been appointed as the Advisor to Andhra Pradesh government on minority affairs.
Shariff, who is TDP general secretary, will enjoy the rank of a Cabinet Minister. He is the first Muslim leader to be appointed as Advisor by the TDP-led NDA government.
Shariff’s name figures in the list of 59 leaders appointed on nominated posts by the Chandrababu Naidu government.
This is the second important post given to Muslim leader by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Nasyam Mohammed Farooq is the lone Muslim in Naidu’s Cabinet. The 74-year-old is the minister for law and minority affairs.
Shariff hails from Narsapuram in West Godavari district. The 70-year-old has been associated with the TDP since the party’s inception in 1982. He holds Bachelor of Commerce degree from a college in Narsapuram and Master of Commerce and LLB degrees from Bhopal University.
Shariff became chairperson of Legislative Council in February 2019 and held the position till May 2021.
TDP State Minority Cell president Moulana Mushtaq Ahmed has been appointed chairman of Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation. Hailing from Nandyal, he studied from Darul Uloom Sabeelur Rashad, Bangalore.
Shariff and Mushtaq are only two Muslim leaders in the second list of nominated posts.
In the first list released last month, the government had appointed TDP leader Shaik Abdul Aziz as chairman of state Waqf Board. Abdul Aziz, a former mayor of Nellore, is currently the TDP president for the Nellore parliamentary constituency. The 64-year-old industrialist-cum-politician was expecting nomination to the Legislative Council but was appointed chairman of the Waqf Board.
