Sources said an understanding with Bukhari was sealed on Tuesday when he met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
While Congress circles feel the development will help stem a possible drift of Muslims towards AAP, the party was attacked by BJP for polarizing the electorate. Reacting to Sonia's meeting with Bukhari and her reported appeal to prevent a split of "secular" votes, BJP president Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley hit out at the Congress chief. While Rajnath said Congress was seeking to communalize elections, Jaitley said the reports suggested she didn't consider the majority community to be "secular".
"I think it is a matter of desperation. I have no issue with people going to all segments for votes. But to indirectly impute that the majority vote in India is not a secular vote, that's the impression I got when I read the news item," Jaitley said.
Sonia called the charge "absolutely a joke". "We are not in the habit or in the game of polarizing elections," she said.
Bukhari is likely to announce his support for Congress in the presence of senior Muslim clerics and scholars, sources said. "Our meeting with Mrs Gandhi was successful. She appealed to us to come together to stop the division of secular votes and defeat communal forces," said Bukhari.
He said issues such as reservation for the minority community, education and employment opportunities were also discussed. Though Bukhari doesn't have the clout his father wielded in the 1980s when he issued 'fatwas' asking Muslims to support the 'secular' parties he backed, his meeting with Sonia is seen as a bid to stem the drift towards AAP.
A majority of Muslims in the assembly election supported Congress but its humiliating defeat has raised the fear that many in the community may see Arvind Kejriwal as better positioned to defeat Narendra Modi's BJP.
Bukhari made plain his preference for Congress, saying, "It is the best party to lead the country and look after the minority community in the circumstances." Sources said Bukhari and around 300 Muslim clerics and activists from across the country met for the first time on March 22 to discuss political issues and minority support. They formed an 11-member review committee which also met BSP and other Congress leaders like Ahmed Patel and Rajiv Shukla.
"BJP cannot be trusted. We annoy forget the Gujarat riots. As far as Aam Aadmi Party is concerned, they will only help BJP come to power by splitting minority vote," said Bukhari.
Bukhari has been associated with various political parties and supported Samajwadi Party earlier. He said he was disillusioned with SP because of Muzaffarnagar riots which have "exposed their hypocrisy". "My family had declared support for Congress 34 years back and it is for the first time since then that we are even meeting any senior Congress leader to discuss a possible support," said Bukhari.
BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar termed the understanding between the cleric and Congress as a "display of communal politics". He said, "This is also a violation of the poll code because you cannot appeal to voters on the basis of religion and caste. "
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