Telangana Election 2023: BJP Shifts Focus On Telugu States

Political analysts say the visit by the BJP leaders may be a beginning of the saffron party`s efforts to test waters before getting into serious talks for alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the main opposition party in the state.

HYDERABAD: A month after the shock defeat in Karnataka, the BJP has started focusing on Telugu states with top guns of the party making a series of visits in preparation for the coming elections. A day after BJP president J.P. Nadda`s visit to Tirupati on Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is arriving in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. The visit by two top BJP leaders in as many days is likely to set off a flurry of political activity for realignment in the run-up to next year`s elections.

Political analysts say the visit by the BJP leaders may be a beginning of the saffron party`s efforts to test waters before getting into serious talks for alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the main opposition party in the state. After the humiliating defeat in 2019 elections, which they fought separately, TDP, BJP and Jana Sena Party (JSP) headed by actor politician Pawan Kalyan are keen to join hands to take on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

The visits by Nadda and Amit Shah are seen as part of BJP`s efforts to reach out to masses and gain a foothold in the state. This is their first visit to Andhra Pradesh after the recent meeting with TDP president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Naidu had met Amit Shah and Nadda on June 3 in Delhi. They reportedly discussed TDP-JSP-BJP alliance for elections in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

This was Naidu`s first meeting with Shah after TDP pulled out of the BJP-led NDA in 2018 over the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Political observers believe both the parties are keen to leave behind the bitterness of 2019 elections and work together. BJP and TDP had an alliance in 2014 elections and though Pawan Kalyan did not contest the polls, he campaigned for the alliance and addressed public meetings along with Narendra Modi and Chandrababu Naidu.

The JSP had snapped ties with both TDP and BJP for going back on the promise to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly, TDP later used the same issue to pull out of the BJP-led NDA. BJP, which was sharing power with TDP in the state, also had to pull out of the coalition. In 2014 polls, BJP had bagged four seats in the 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly. It has also won two out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.

However, in 2019 polls, which saw TDP losing power to YSR Congress, BJP drew a blank while JSP could manage to win just one Assembly. After the 2019 debacle, JSP was quick to mend fences with the BJP. Though Chandrababu Naidu too wanted to bury the hatchet, the BJP leadership was cold in its response as YSRCP was extending support to BJP on key Bills in the Parliament.

With less than a year to go for elections, Pawan Kalyan started exerting pressure on BJP to finalise the alliance to avoid a split of anti-YSRCP votes. Nadda`s speech at Tirupati public meeting on Saturday indicates that BJP is gearing up to take on YSRCP. He slammed the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government on widespread corruption and lawlessness in the state. "I am sorry to say YSRCP is one of the most corrupt governments I have ever seen. There is no end to scams. There is mining scam, sand scam, liquor scam, land scam and education scam. Which type of scam is not taking place?"

Nadda also lashed out at YSRCP for turning the state economy into an 'alcohol economy'. The BJP president also alleged that lawlessness is at extreme. "There is no law and no law enforcing agency," he remarked. The BJP chief also attacked the Jagan government over not building the state capital at Amaravati for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone in 2015.

BJP will have to be content with playing second fiddle to TDP in Andhra Pradesh, the saffron party is confident of its prospects in Telangana, where Assembly elections in Telangana are due in November-December 2023. The debacle in Karnataka dealt a blow to the party`s preparations in Telangana but it hopes that Amit Shah`s visit on June 15 will infuse new enthusiasm among the party cadres. He is scheduled to address a public meeting at Khammam.

The BJP, which has been focusing on Telangana for the last 3-4 years, was confident that Telangana will prove its second gateway to the South after Karnataka. However, the party`s failure to retain power in Karnataka dented its morale. The BJP had been working aggressively with Mission 2023, but its confidence took a beating following defeat in Karnataka. The internal squabbles in the party have added to its problems.

MLA Eatala Rajender and some other BJP leaders, who joined the party in recent years, are said to be unhappy with state BJP president Bandi Sanjay and are demanding the central leadership to appoint a new leader. A recent reported statement by a senior central leader of the BJP about the saffron party`s real strength in the state has also dealt a blow to its rank and file. The leader reportedly admitted that BJP is trailing at third position in the state.

The BJP has been trying to project itself as the only viable alternative to BRS. Its top leaders including Narendra Modi and Amit Shah exuded confidence at many occasions that the party will storm to power in Telangana. In the 2018 Assembly elections in Telangana, BJP secured just one seat in 119-member House. However, in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the saffron party came out with its best-ever performance to win four Lok Sabha seats. Since then, the party`s fortunes have been on an upswing. It bolstered its position by winning two Assembly seats in by-elections and with an impressive show in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls.

The BJP is looking to rope in top leaders from across the country for the campaign in Telangana. As the elections draw nearer, the state will see a flurry of visits by BJP leaders. When compared to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana is seen as a fertile ground for the BJP. The party has been raking up several contentious issues for polarisation of votes on communal lines.

AIMIM`s political domination in old city of Hyderabad, the friendship of Owaisis with the KCR government, four per cent reservation for Muslims, second official language status to Urdu and celebration of Hyderabad Liberation Day are some of the issues which the saffron party has been trying to capitalize on and this is likely to pay it dividends in some pockets of the state.