Telangana BJP president and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy addressing press conference at BJP office in Hyderabad. File.
| Photo Credit: G N RAO
With a new Congress government in place in Telangana, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which aimed to become an alternative to the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and managed to win eight seats is getting ready for Parliament elections.
Leaders, who had shied away from contesting the Assembly elections, have begun gathering support to get the party ticket. Even those who had lost lost are aiming to get the official nod once again with the hope of change in fortunes next year.
While the leadership has shrugged away the defeat here pointing to the doubling the vote percentage and winning three other states in the north, there is seething anger among the second rung leaders and cadre over the lack of accountability with no effort do any post-mortem.
With party president and Union Minister G.Kishan Reddy busy in Parliament, the once bustling party office sees little activity these days. The top Central leaders, who have camped here for the last couple of months, have quietly moved out post the results.
Partymen have taken to social media to vent their frustration, targeting top leaders accusing them of ignoring sincere and hardworking persons in favour of those with money bags. Allegations include that they had indirectly supported their own extended family members or candidates of their own community against the party’s official candidates ditching them in the process.
Though the party has won from unexpected constituencies and Kamareddy candidate K. Venkatramana Reddy had defeated BRS boss K.Chandrasekhar Rao and Congress president A.Revanth Reddy, the loss of high profile leaders like national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar, campaign committee chairman Eatala Rajender, Nizamabad MP D.Aravind and others has come as a shock.
More difficult to digest was the fact that it was unable to win a single seat in its supposed stronghold in the capital and suburbs where BRS won decisively, in sharp contrast to the situation in rest of the State. The party candidates came second in 19 constituencies, secured deposits in 40 and lost deposits in 32 constituencies across Telangana.
“We have failed, from strategy to ticket distribution. The party put blind faith in outsiders with 80% tickets issued to newcomers and turncoats. Leaders got tickets for their staunch supporters using bogus surveys. The party had for the first time provided substantial funds but most ‘outsiders’ failed,” observed a senior leader, unwilling to be identified.
“The BC Declaration boomeranged so did the effort to get Madigas’ support by aligning with the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS). In the Sangh, caste is supposed to assimilate into Hindutva, so we lost our traditional supporters too. Central leaders did not bother to interact even when requested. Our national leaders were thoroughly misled,” bemoaned another leader.
Changing candidates in the last minute in certain constituencies humiliating the initially chosen ones, unable to counter the perception of BJP and BRS having an “understanding” with no action against “BRS corruption”, influential leaders getting tickets for their kith and kin, allowing Mr.Rajender to contest in two constituencies, top leaders shunning from contesting, match fixing charges in a few constituencies etc., pulled the party further down, reiterated party leaders.
The tie-up with Jana Sena Party has turned out to be a failure while party candidates had also lost in all the Assembly segments under Secunderabad Parliament constituency represented by party president and Union Minister G.Kishan Reddy, including Amberpet and also in Musheerabad earlier represented by Rajya Sabha MP and national OBC president K.Laxman.
“Too many cooks working at cross purposes spoilt our election strategy. With lobbying for tickets for the Parliamentary constituencies having begun, the disenchanted cadre fear they will get short-charged again,” remarked another leader.
