It is being assumed that a strong performance in the local body elections could provide the BJP with a solid grassroots base, enabling it to challenge Congress and BRS more effectively in the days to come.
Published Jul 17, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 17, 2025 | 8:00 AM
BJP Telangana President N Ramachander Rao and other leaders during a workshop for BJP mandal and division presidents. (X)
Synopsis: The Telangana BJP is intensifying its efforts to make significant inroads in the upcoming elections for local bodies. The saffron party is strategically targeting the BC community to bolster its electoral prospects.
The Telangana BJP is intensifying its efforts to make significant inroads in the upcoming elections for local bodies, including panchayats, Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC), and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC).
Recognising the critical role these elections play in building a robust grassroots foundation, the party is leveraging its recent electoral gains to strengthen its presence across the state. The BJP has traditionally faced challenges in rural Telangana, where regional parties like the BRS and the ruling Congress have held sway.
However, the party’s performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where it secured eight out of 17 seats, shifted the narrative, demonstrating its growing appeal in select districts. The BJP is now capitalising on this momentum to challenge the dominance of Congress and BRS in local governance structures.
On Tuesday, 15 July, BJP General Secretary and Telangana in-charge Sunil Bansal conducted a state-level workshop in Ghatkesar, near Hyderabad, to draw strategies for the polls.
The workshop focused on voter outreach, campaign logistics, and countering the Congress government’s narrative, particularly on the issue of Backward Classes (BC) reservations. Bansal called for a “high-voltage campaign” as well as an inclusive approach in roping in all leaders, both new entrants and the old guard.
The appointment of N Ramchander Rao as the Telangana BJP president on 1 July seems to have invigorated the party’s campaign. He is focusing on expanding the party’s influence from panchayats to Parliament. He has already begun mobilising party workers and addressed back-to-back meetings in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts on 14 and 15 July.
He urged the BJP workers to seize the opportunity presented by the local body elections to deepen the party’s roots in rural Telangana.
The saffron party is strategically targeting the BC community, which constitutes approximately 60 percent of Telangana’s population, to bolster its electoral prospects.
The party is leveraging the influence of prominent leaders such as Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind, and Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay, who represents Karimnagar, to build trust among BC voters.
The BJP is trying to downplay the Congress government’s push for 42 percent reservations for BCs in local body elections.
The party argues that though it is not against an increase in reservations for the BCs, it is dead against providing reservations to Muslims who are shown to constitute 10 percent of the BC population.
Simultaneously, the BJP is targeting the BRS and Congress on corruption. At the Ghatkesar meeting, Ramachandra Rao said: “The Congress and BRS are no different from each other when it comes to corruption and pursuing anti-people policies,” indicating the party’s line to cut the two parties down to size.
The party is also exploiting recent controversies, including the vandalism of BC leader Teenmar Mallanna’s office by supporters of MLC Kavitha, to whip up anti-BRS sentiment among BC voters in favour of the BJP.
While the BRS is likely to devise its own strategy to address the perceived fall in its traction on BCs, the BJP aims to capitalise on this unrest to strengthen its position. Rao is also advocating clean politics devoid of the use of abusive words.
At Kodad meeting, Rao said: I want to make politics abuse-free,” he said, referring to the deterioration in calling one to account beyond the line of decency.
With 5,717 MPTC seats, 538 ZPTC seats, and 12,769 sarpanch positions vacant since May and January of the previous year, the Telangana High Court has mandated that the local bodies be completed by September 2025. The BJP views this as a golden opportunity to expand its influence in both rural and urban governance.
To achieve this, the saffron party is focusing on strengthening its booth-level committees across all the districts. These committees, often overlooked, are considered a vital component of the party’s election machinery.
The BJP is appointing a significant number of workers per polling booth, training them to visit every household and explain the benefits of the Union government schemes. This micro-level approach is believed to build voter confidence and may establish a direct connection with the electorate.
The seven MLAs of the party — after the resignation of Goshamahal MLA Raja Singh — and eight Lok Sabha MPs are actively engaging with voters through personal visits, aiming to consolidate support and maintain strong community ties. This hands-on approach is designed to counter the grassroots dominance of Congress and BRS, particularly in rural areas where the BJP has historically been weak.
The local body elections are a critical juncture for Telangana’s political landscape. The silver lining for the party is that its vote share has grown steadily, from seven percent in the 2018 Assembly elections to 14 percent in 2023 and an impressive 35 percent in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
It is being assumed that a strong performance in the local body elections could provide the BJP with a solid grassroots base, enabling it to challenge Congress and BRS more effectively in the days to come. The party is trying to sow wind. It remains to be seen whether it will be able to reap a whirlwind.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
