The saffron party hopes to win eight of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, compared to the four it clinched in 2019.
Published Dec 26, 2023 | 5:24 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 26, 2023 | 5:25 PM
Attendees at a BJP election rally. (BJP4Telangana/X)
The Telangana unit of the BJP has begun its preparations for next year’s Lok Sabha polls and is keen on doubling its tally in the State.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be in Hyderabad on 28 December to take stock of the situation. It will be his first visit to the state after the recent Assembly elections that saw BJP’s vote share nearly double in comparison to 2018 assembly election.
The Telangana BJP leadership is making arrangements for a meeting with party leaders at Kongarakalan on Hyderabad outskirts. Party functionaries from all over the state have been invited.
The Union Home Minister is expected to show the way forward for the party leaders, including building a Telangana-specific narrative that would gel with the people.
The party is already campaigning on the development and schemes brought about under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership with its Viksit Bharat yatras.
Amit Shah is also expected to discuss the grand plans underway for the inauguration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya on 22 January, which is expected to set the Hindutva ball rolling with fresh fervour all over the nation as it prepares to score a hattrick in the Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, the saffron party thinks that it will be able to do better in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Telangana than in 2019. It won only four of the 17 seats in the state back then. Now it is aiming to capture at least eight.
Focused on ensuring the cadres take Parliamentary elections very seriously, the BJP wants to adopt a calibrated approach unlike in Assembly elections.
Telangana BJP leaders believe that winning seven to eight Lok Sabha seats might not be a tall order. The Assembly verdict has proved that the support for BJP had grown in the most unlikely places — like north Telangana.
The party won eight seats in the Assembly elections, of which seven were from the north. It won only one in Hyderabad — Goshamahal — which continues to be represented by T Raja Singh.
The party’s state-level leaders have already made a dissection of the results of the Assembly elections. If winning eight seats was a surprise, defeating incumbent Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao in Kamareddy came as the icing on the cake.
For instance, Alletti Maheshwar Reddy not only vanquished former minister A Indrakarn Redyd in Nirmal by more than 50,000 votes, but the BJP nominee also polled more than 1 lakh votes.
In about 25 seats the BJP had lost, its candidates polled more than 50,000 votes. The party lost Quthbulapur narrowly, despite its candidate K Srisaalam Goud polling more than 1 lakh votes.
The party does not want to commit the same mistakes it committed in the Assembly polls, like delaying the finalisation of candidates till the last minute, which appeared to have done a lot of damage.
Some leaders like Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy left, creating confusion in the cadres. The party now wants to be very careful in picking up the right candidates for the Lok Sabha seats.
According to sources, the four sitting MPs — Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Dharmapuri Arvind, G Kishan Reddy, and Soyam Bapu Rao — would be renominated for Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Secunderabad, and Adilabad, respectively.
However, the party would have to look for winning horses for the rest of the 13 seats in the state.
As national issues play an important role in Lok Sabha polls and with the BJP winning the Assembly elections in North India, an impression is gaining ground that there would be a groundswell for the saffron party in Telangana as well. This is leading to acute competition for the Lok Sabha election tickets.
The Telangana BJP would have to pick up the best of the available candidates, as it is the first time the party is trying to make its presence felt in the hinterland as well.
For Malkajgiri, party senior leader P Muralidhar Rao is likely to be nominated for the seat. But Eatala Rajender, who lost the Assembly elections from both Gajwel and his home constituency Huzurabad, is showing interest in the same constituency.
BJP leaders see Zaheerabad as an easy seat as they consider it part of a Hindu belt. There are quite a few leaders in the race for the seat, including late BJP leader Ale Narendra’s son Bhaskar and former MP Baga Reddy’s son Jaipal Reddy. Even casino operator Chikoti Praveen, who joined the BJP recently, is trying for a party ticket for the seat.
For Mahabubangar, there is a competition between former minister DK Aruna and former MP A Jitender Reddy.
From Nagarkurmool, it is quite possible that Bangaru Sruthi, the daughter of late BJP national president Bangaru Lakshman, will get the ticket.
For Chevella, Konda Vishwewar Reddy is the likely candidate while former MP Dr Boora Narsaiah Goud is showing interest in contesting from the Bhongir constituency, which he represented from 2014 to 2019, when he was in the BRS.
For Nalgonda, G Jitender, Narasimha Reddy and Goli Mahender are in the race. Former minister Dr K Vijaya Rama Rao and senior leader Chinta Samba Murthy are showing interest in the Warangal seat.
For Medak, former MLA M Raghunandan Rao is trying to get the party nomination, while Ramachandra Naik is making efforts for Mahabubabad.
S Kumar, who unsuccessfully contested the Peddapally seat in 2019, is trying his luck at the seat again. For Khammam, the party’s district president Galla Satayanrayana has thrown his hat in the ring.
In the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP might put up a tough fight this time. It is considering whether to field Dr Bhagavanth Rao or bring in a more powerful leader to take on the AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Bhagavanth Rao was the runner-up in the 2019 elections, polling over 2.35 lakh votes.
