The party thinks that if a shift was noticeable in Assembly elections, it would be much more pronounced in Lok Sabha polls.
Published Dec 17, 2023 | 4:56 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 17, 2023 | 4:57 PM
Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a BJP election rally in Telangana. (BJP4Telangana/X)
Having made a difference in the recently-concluded Assembly elections, the Telangana BJP is warming up for the next big challenge — the Lok Sabha elections in April-May next year.
After the party won three states in North India – Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, its fortunes were perceived to be on a roll.
The Telangana BJP now appears keen on making the most of the perception to build on its present tally of four — Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, and Secunderabad – MP seats.
The much-needed boost comes from the party’s increased vote share in the recently-concluded Assembly polls, despite three of its MPs contesting unsuccessfully.
The party has already kicked off the exercise with its Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatras in the state on Saturday.
Though it is strictly a government programme, intended to promote awareness of the Union government’s welfare schemes, the party is making use of the optics involved in the interaction between the government and the people, to further its political interests.
The increase in the vote share in the Assembly elections — from 7 percent in 2018 to 14 percent in 2023 — has come as a shot in the arm for the saffron party.
The BJP won eight Assembly seats in the state, including Kamareddy, where its candidate K Venkataramana Reddy defeated two towering personalities in state politics — K Chandrashekar Rao and A Revanth Reddy — which is making the party leaders feel as though they were walking on the moon.
In some constituencies like in Nirmal, the BJP nominees won by a margin of more than 50,000 votes, which indicated that there was a shift in the people’s choice in favour of the BJP.
The party thinks that if the shift was noticeable in Assembly elections, it would be much more pronounced in Lok Sabha polls as it would be an election to decide whether Modi should get a third term.
The BJP leaders believe that the Modi magic would work this time also. They expect to improve on their score at the expense of the BRS which is now licking its electoral wounds after its ignominious defeat in the recent Assembly elections.
The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is being used as a means to achieve this goal, said Union Minister G Kishan Reddy in the Chinna Golconda area in Hyderabad on Saturday, 16 December, after he flew a drone that sprayed pesticide on the crops to demonstrate how these new age machines could do the job more effectively.
The purpose is to raise the awareness of the people on the welfare scheme of the Union government.
“There would be about 170 yatras in the state and the vehicle is intended to visit one village in the morning and one village in the evening. We intend to complete these yatras by Republic Day next year,” he said.
Against this backdrop, the party is eyeing the Lok Sabha elections with sharper focus as it wants to get as many seats as possible from Telangana and seeks to add to the tally of the stats from the north and thus help the party come to power once again.
Several BJP leaders are already making their moves to get tickets for the Lok Sabha Polls. Though the loss of its sitting MPs in the Assembly elections was a setback for the BJP, it now thinks that it could be a blessing in disguise as they could be fielded for the Lok Sabha elections without having to search for candidates.
Apart from the MPs who lost the Assembly elections, others who were defeated, are also showing interest in contesting for Lok Sabha polls.
Karimnagar and Nizamabad MPs Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Dharmapuri Arvind, who lost in the Assembly elections, are now expecting to be renominated from their respective constituencies.
Similarly, two former MLAs of the BJP who lost the election — Eatala Rajender and M Ranghunandan Rao — are also looking at the Lok Sabha elections
The number of people who might seek tickets for the Lok Sabha polls will be more this time because of the BJP holding sway in the North. The ticket-seekers from Telangana feel that there would surely be a rub-off effect on them from the North, which would help them win their seats.
They believe that convection currents of the BJP in the North blew across Telangana in the recent Assembly elections. They argue that if it was not true, there was no way the party could have won eight seats in the state, some of which with huge margins.
Considering this, picking a candidate for Karimnagar might become dicey for the party because there are now two serious contenders for the ticket — sitting MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar and former MLA Eatala Rajender.
Rajender wants to seek election not only from Karimnagar but also from Medak where he wants to grapple with former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao who is expected to throw his hat in the ring.
However, Raghunandan Rao, who lost his election to the Assembly from Dubbak, is also showing interest in Medak and the party would have to choose between him and Rajender who wants to avenge his defeat by KCR in the Assembly election from Gajwel.
As the Malakjgiri constituency is predominantly urban, former general secretary of the party P Muralidhar Rao is showing interest in contesting from there as winning from there is considered easy.
In fact, several others are showing interest in Malkajgiri, including former MLA NVSS Prabhakar, former MP Chada Suresh Reddy, and former MLC N Ramchandra Rao.
For Adilabad, apart from the sitting MP Soyam Bapu Rao, former MLA Rathod Bapu Rao and former MP Rathod Ramesh are also showing interest.
For Mahabuabngar, former MP A Jitender Reddy, former minister DK Auna, and party leader Thalloju Achary are in the fray.
From Warangal, it is said that former IPS officer Krishna Prasad is showing interest while Hussain Naik and Ramachandra Naik wonder whether they would get a ticket to contest from there.
Interestingly, Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh is understood to be keen on contesting against AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency.
If he gets the ticket and wins the seat, it would be nothing short of a miracle as the seat is considered Owaisi’s pocket borough.
There is also a talk that casino organiser Chikoti Praveen into whose affairs the Enforcement Directorate had investigated alleged violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, is seeking a BJP ticket from Zaheerabad, besides Chintala Ramachandra Reddy.
Dr Boora Narasaiah Goud has been nursing the desire to contest from Bhongir which he represented on behalf of the BRS in the past.
