The release of the charge-sheet signals BJP's return to action, aiming to reclaim lost political ground to the BRS. Party leaders, energized by a meeting with PM Modi and hints of a new state president, are re-energised
Published Dec 03, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 03, 2024 | 2:26 PM
BJP revives political push in Telangana (@narendramodi on X)
After a prolonged lull, the BJP is slowly warming up to face the Congress and the BRS in Telangana.
It came out with a charge-sheet against the ruling Congress in Telangana on Sunday, 1 December on its omissions and commissions during its one year rule. It went for Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s scalp on the guarantees that had not been honoured.
The release of the charge-sheet signalled the party’s intention to get back into action and regain political space it had unwittingly ceded to the BRS by remaining dormant.
The party leaders seemed to have bounced back after their interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on 28 November. This, apart from the indication from the party leadership that the Telangana state would soon have a new president, appeared to have warmed the cockles of their hearts.
The Prime Minister had told them to rise and fight against both the Congress and the BRS and bid for power by the time the next elections arrive.
He said in a message on X: “The BJP in Telangana is expanding fast. The people of Telangana were scared under the previous BRS’s rule and are disillusioned with the incumbent Congress government. They are looking at the BJP with hope. The BJP will continue to fight against the state government, on behalf of the people.”
తెలంగాణ బీజేపీ శాసనసభ్యులతో, ఎంపీలతో చాలా మంచి సమావేశం జరిగింది.
రాష్ట్రంలో మా పార్టీ ఉనికి వేగంగా విస్తరిస్తోంది. తెలంగాణ ప్రజలు ఇప్పటికే కాంగ్రెస్తో విసిగిపోయారు అంతేకాక బీఆర్ఎస్ దుష్టపాలన వల్ల కలిగిన భయంకరమైన జ్ఞాపకాలతో ఉన్నారు. ఎంతో ఆశతో బీజేపీ వైపు చూస్తున్నారు.… pic.twitter.com/hkutfaIeF8
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 27, 2024
In fact, the BJP had won eight Lok Sabha seats in the recent general elections, claiming a vote share of 38.08 percent. It was only 13.9 percent in Assembly elections held in November 2023.
The BRS had 37.35 percent of vote share in the Assembly elections but it slid to 16.68 percent in the Lok Sabha polls.
But the BRS is perceived to have regained a lot of lost ground by cutting into the Congress vote bank which means the BJP is lagging behind. Party leader T Harish Rao said with a lot of conviction recently: “If Assembly elections are held in the state today, we are sure to win 100 seats.”
The Congress had gained a vote-share of about 40.10 percent in Lok Sabha while in the Assembly it was 39.40 percent which is more or less the same.
The saffron party remained woefully backward even as the BRS rose against the Congress with renewed vigour on several issues over the last few months, including farmers’ crop loan waiver, Musi Rejuvenation Project and HYDRAA demolitions.
This was, it is said, on account of the fact that the saffron party remained without a regular president. The BRS has the advantage of two great rabble rousers – working president K T Rama Rao and T Harish Rao who have guidance of party’s Mike Tyson, K Chandraskehar Rao.
The two leaders could quickly generate a lot of heat and rouse tempers among the people against the government. The BRS always keeps its powder dry, an essential attribute for any political party which is raring to re-capture the paradise lost.
In contrast, the BJP has no such leader who could rouse passions. Though there used to be one in Union Minister of State Bandi Sanjay Kumar, he no longer heads the party.
Kishan Reddy, a gentleman who cannot stoop to abyssal depths to tarnish the image of other parties, is finding the going tough. The BRS, on the contrary, appears to be gaining an advantage over him in attacking Revanth Reddy and his government. The Lagacharla violence and the way the BRS responded to the opportunity dispels any doubt about who can move faster in fixing the ruling party.
Kishan Reddy has been acting as its president ever since Bandi Sanjay Kumar was eased out on 4 July, 2023 for inexplicable reasons. Ever since, Kishan Reddy has not been able to pay full attention to either of his responsibilities.
Sanjay Kumar was removed from the helm hardly a few months before the Assembly elections in November last year, which is understood to have taken a heavy toll on the fortunes of the party. The inertia that had set in then, continues to dog the party.
Though the party had organised a few programmes like Musi Nidra opposing eviction of Musi Dwellers, it could not measure up to the BRS’ high-octane agitation against the relocation of the dwellers.
The leaders of the saffron party including Kishan Reddy spent a night with the residents who live along the Musi River bank, opposing their relocation to pave the way for the government to take up Musi Rejuvenation Project.
Musi Nidra was in response to a challenge that Revanth Reddy threw at the Opposition leaders on whether they could spend three months at a stretch on Musi River bank without running away, and if they did, he would abandon the project.
He was underscoring the point that Musi was a highly polluted river and that it needed a make-over very badly. Musi Nidra was the only major event that the saffron party had organised recently, taking full advantage of optics.
But the programme could not capture the seriousness of the issue and finally it appeared as though it was more like an outing for the leaders. The Congress pounced on the BJP saying that they had made all arrangements before going to the Musi river bank to spend the night, with stocks of blankets, mosquito coils, mosquito nets, All-Out Mosquito repellents and so on.
Having come out with a charge-sheet against the Congress now, the party is looking at the panchayat elections which, are likely to be held soon after the finalisation of the BC reservations. It will be based on the survey report to be submitted by the BC Commission on living conditions of all the castes in the state. The party’s next target will be the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, due next year.
Kishan Reddy said recently that eviction of Musi River dwellers and HYDRAA demolitions would be the BJP’s issues in the GHMC elections. “The BJP has to win all the divisions it captured in the past and add about 30 more,” he said. In the GHMC elections held in 2020, it won 48 of the total 150 seats.
2024 Lok Sabha elections:
BRS:16.68 percent
BJP: 35.08 percent
Cong: 40.10 percent
2023 Assembly elections:
BJP 13.9 percent
BRS: 37.35 percent
Cong:39.40 percent
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
