Trouble over Muslim leadership in Congress continues, this time over an audio clip. A purported telephonic conversation between former minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan and Congress leader Mohammed Siraj, which surfaced and went viral on Monday, sparked a fresh controversy over alleged attempts at sabotaging Congress’s chances in the Davangere South bypoll. 

Coming amid talks of Cabinet formation after D.K. Shivakumar takes over as the Chief Minister, Mr. Zameer described the surfacing of the audio as a “political conspiracy.” He said that it had been cooked up by miscreants to create confusion and spoil his chances.

“Nobody should believe this. The audio is fake and has been created through artificial intelligence. A police complaint will be filed with the cyber police against those who have created the audio and circulated it. Let any kind of investigation be done on this audio,” the former Minister said in a statement.

Mr. Siraj also described it as “100% lies” and said they had spoken only to discuss how to work for the Congress. Mr. Siraj has filed a complaint in this regard in the CEN (Cyber, Economic, and Narcotics) police station in Davangere.

Mr. Ahmed, who was part of the outgoing Siddaramaiah-led government, is believed to be lobbying to secure a cabinet berth again.

The Davangere bypoll preparations had turned tricky for the Congress leadership amid rumours that sections of Muslims, upset over the denial of a ticket to a candidate from the community, might turn against the party. The Congress nominated Samarth Shamanur, grandson of former Minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa, whose demise necessitated the bypolls. He eventually won the election by a narrow margin.

The SDPI candidate secured its highest-ever vote share in the constituency. The audio clip features the two voices talking about the ‘cooker’ symbol of the SDPI.

The confusion and alleged attempts by certain leaders to sabotage the Congress prospects led to the suspension of MLC Abdul Jabbar from the party after he resigned from the post of Chairman of Minority Cell, while Naseer Ahmed, the Political Secretary to Mr. Siddaramaiah, was sacked. There were allegations against Mr. Zameer, though he did not face action.