Telangana: BJP aims to complete appointment of 12,000 booth panels

Hyderabad: Telangana BJP is aiming to complete appointment of about 12,000 booth committees by this month-end, taking their total to 25,000, state unit president K Laxman said here on Friday.

"There are 32,000 poling booths in the state. At present, the BJP has about 13,000 (booth) committees. We are working to take the total number of booth committees to 25,000 by the end of this month," Laxman told reporters in an interaction with the media, organised by the Hyderabad Press Club.

He said almost 8,000 workers of the BJP are engaged in this exercise.

According to him, the party has over 19 lakh members across Telangana.

Replying to a query, he said the saffron party is interested in expanding its base by attracting "influential people" at grassroot level.

"That does not mean that we discourage people joining the party at higher levels. If any leader who has strong base and inclined to our party's ideology, we will certainly consider it on a case-by-case basis," he added.

Taking a swipe at the ruling TRS government, he said the current regime has failed to live up to the expectations of people.

He alleged the government has become family-centric and is neglecting issues related to all sections including the farmer and the student.

Laxman claimed about 3,000 farmers have committed suicides during the three-year rule of TRS.

On the BJP's strategy to contest the 2019 general elections, he said the party will not have any pre-poll tie-ups with any other parties and will appeal to people on a two-pronged campaign.

"We will highlight the developmental and welfare schemes being undertaken by Narendra Modi government on one hand, and failures of the TRS government on the other. These would be the key issues for BJP in 2019 polls," he said.

The BJP has undertaken a door-to-door campaign to take achievements of the Modi government to 50 lakh households in Telangana, the BJP leader said.