Barely a few months ago, the BJP was breathing down the neck of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana, emerging as its main rival. But now, just ahead of the state Assembly polls scheduled for November 30, the BJP’s presence seems to have shrunk in the battleground.
The electioneering of the BRS and the Congress have overshadowed that of the BJPwhich appears to be lagging in the absence of local leadership in several constituencies. The campaign in-charges of the BJP candidates say that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah visit the state, “there is action, otherwise things are quiet”.
In Dubbaka in Siddipet district, where the BJP’s M Raghunandan Rao handed out a shock defeat to the BRS candidate in the November 2020 bypoll, the enthusiasm among the BJP cadres seem to be waning. Rao’s campaign, mainly undertaken on foot through villages and “thandas” (hamlets) through Dubbaka and Raipol mandals, seems tepid.
In contrast, the BRS has pulled in all its might to ensure Rao’s defeat. And despite its candidate, Medak MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, who is recovering from a stabbing wound, missing in action, the campaign for him by the BRS leaders and workers appears to be energetic. Chief Minister and BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR has deputed his nephew, minister T Harish Rao, the Siddipet MLA, to spearhead the campaign in the constituency.
Across several districts including Ranga Reddy, Medak, Siddipet, Warangal, Jangaon, and Sangareddy, the BJP’s campaign seems to be lacklustre, drowned out by the BRS and Congress’s high-voltage electioneering. The BRS and the Congress have more vehicles on the ground, fitted with posters of their leaders and candidates, playing various songs. “There was some talk of BJP for some time but now people only discuss BRS and Congress. The fight will be between BRS and Congress,’’ says ex-TDP leader from Medak, R Ramachandra Rao.
However, some BJP candidates, such as MLA T Raja Singh, who is seeking re-election from Goshamahal, and Etela Rajender, the sitting MLA from Huzurabad, are making their presence felt in their areas. “KCR, KTR, Harish Rao…they are known among the public. We don’t have such visible leaders (in the state),’’ said a BJP leader at Silajinagar in Dubbaka.
While the BJP’s defeat at the hands of the Congress in Karnataka in May dampened its spirits in Telangana, it was the replacement of firebrand Bandi Sanjay Kumar as its state president which sent the party in a downward spiral.
After G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister and Secunderabad MP, replaced Kumar as the state BJP chief in July, the party was perceived to have softened its stance towards the BRS. “Sanjay had invigorated the BJP and turned it into the main rival of BRS. We don’t understand why he was suddenly dropped,’’ said G Madan, the campaign in-charge for BJP candidate Murali Yadav from Narasapur in Medak. In Sangareddy, Medchal, and Palakurthi, many voters were even unaware of the names of the BJP candidates.
While Modi and Shah have visited the state twice this month to address rallies, other senior BJP central leaders, including party president J P Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, have also campaigned in recent days. However, the BJP candidates’ campaigns are hamstrung due to the absence of known local party faces capable of drawing crowds. As Kumar is himself contesting from the Karimnagar seat against minister Gangula Kamalakar, he is mostly confined to his constituency, and is making very few appearances elsewhere.
After the BJP won only 1 seat in the 2018 Assembly polls, the party leadership brought Kumar, known for his aggressive Hindutva politics, to lead the state unit. Kumar’s aggression was on display during the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections in December 2020, when the BJP sprang a surprise, winning 48 out of 150 seats. Under his leadership, the party won two crucial Assembly bypolls, in Huzurabad and Dubbaka. However, it lost the Munugode bypoll to the BRS last October.
The BJP is also missing key strategist G Vivekanand who had joined the party in August 2019 and scripted the strategy for Huzurabad and Dubbaka bypolls. He recently quit the BJP to return to the Congress.
With actress S Vijayashanthi also quitting the BJP now, the party has lost its one more visible face. After joining the Congress, Vijayashanti too echoed the point that the BJP’s graph started falling in the state following the change of guard.
Kishan Reddy, however, said it was too early to judge and that the party’s campaign has just started gaining momentum. “After we announced so many BC (backward classes) candidates and promised to appoint a BC leader as CM, there is a surge in support for BJP. The reports from the ground are encouraging,’’ he said.
A senior BJP leader admitted the absence of the party leaders in many Assembly constituencies. “Organisationally, we failed to nurture leaders across a state like Telangana. Right now we don’t have state or Assembly constituency-level leaders and depend on central leaders to come and address public meetings. Some of the decisions taken by the central leadership in recent months have been baffling and the party has lost the edge and advantage it had acquired in a couple of years. I think the Congress has upstaged us and the gap has widened,’’ he said.
The BJP’s chief spokesperson K Krishna Sagar Rao told The Indian Express that replacing Kumar may have had some “negative effect”. “His term was almost over and party got a new chief and moved on. It may have had some negative effect but won’t entirely damage the party’s prospects. We think there is a silent wave in favour of the BJP,’’ Rao said when asked about the low visibility of the BJP campaign in the state.
In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 5 seats – all of them in Hyderabad – out of 119 seats with 7.1% vote share. In the 2018 polls, the party won only one seat, Goshamahal, garnering 7% vote.
Meanwhile, the BJP released its poll manifesto Saturday, which does not promise a lot of freebies or doles. While the party has made several significant pledges, it may not stand up to the freebies- filled manifestos of the BRS and the Congress.
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The farm investment support scheme for providing cash to farmers per acre per season, as pledged by the BRS and the Congress, is missing from the BJP’s manifesto.
The Congress has promised to give Rs 15,000 per farmer and Rs 12,000 per tenant farmer in this regard if it is voted to power. The BRS has promised to increase the amount to Rs 16,000 over the next five years if it returns to power.
In contrast, the BJP has pledged to give Rs 2,500 per farmer for purchasing seeds besides assuring Rs 3,100 MSP to paddy farmers. Also missing from the party’s manifesto is financial assistance schemes like Dalit Bandhu or BC Bandhu.
