The BJP’s tirade against the BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) seems to be falling on deaf ears in Telangana.
The BRS is the ruling party in Telangana and has been in power for over 8 years. During this time, they have implemented a number of popular schemes, such as the Rythu Bandhu scheme, which provides financial assistance to farmers, and the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, which has brought irrigation water to many parts of the state.
The BJP has been unable to match the BRS’s record of development and has been reduced to making personal attacks on BRS leaders.
The BJP’s tirade against the BRS is also seen as hypocritical. The BJP is currently in power at the Centre, but they have failed to deliver on many of their promises, such as providing jobs and reducing poverty.
The BRS, on the other hand, has been able to deliver on their promises, which is why they remain popular with the people of Telangana.
In the recent Huzurabad by-election, the BJP fielded Eatala Rajender, a former minister who had defected from the BRS. Rajender was defeated by the BRS candidate, indicating that the BJP’s anti-BRS campaign is not resonating with the people of Telangana.
The BJP will need to do more than just criticize the BRS if they want to win the next assembly elections in Telangana. They need to come up with a credible alternative to the BRS’s development model and they need to convince the people of Telangana that they can deliver on their promises.
Meanwhile, political heat is slowly picking up in Telangana. The Congress party feels that the loss of BJP would be its gain and that it would be able to win around 25 to 30 seats more.
The BJP which had given an impression that it was emerging a strong opposition to the BRS suddenly left the battlefield. Though Union Home Minister Amit Shah who addressed the Khammam recent meeting vows they will never join hands with KCR since he is crooning “Ilu Ilu” with AIMIM party, and that the steering of the car (BRS symbol) is in the hands of the Majlis party, it is difficult for the people to go by his assertions. While the Congress is confident of getting around 25 to 30 seats, the BJP is not able to make any such claims. That being the ground situation, it is interesting to hear Shah claim that the BJP will form the government with full majority.
The swipe at AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge over his allegations – that both BJP and BRS are two sides of the same coin, which is why KCR has stopped criticising PM as well as BJP, and that BJP is soft pedalling the liquor scam probe in which KCR’s daughter Kavitha was questioned by ED – appears to be a half-hearted one. Shah also deplored that Kharge was speaking untruth at this ripe age.
But the fact is that Kharge had merely spelt out what is on the minds of the people of Telangana, and they believe that BJP has some kind of understanding with the BRS, in the wake of its change of route map, not bothering about making further inroads into the south.
There is also a growing feeling that BJP is going the Congress way with its leaders adopting Congress-style democracy in the party and washing their dirty linen in public. What’s more? People also feel the BJP is going soft on KCR because it wants the help of pink party to win some Lok Sabha seats including the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat. BJP leaders may vehemently deny this, but this is what the general public feels.
This being the perception of the people, it is very difficult for the saffron party to regain the ground it had lost ever since the internal bickering of the party came to the fore. The Khammam meeting also did not specify specifics of its action plan for farmers, women, youth and the poor.
The Khammam public meeting was named as ‘Rytu Gosa – BJP Bharosa’. But if one analyses the speech of Amit Shah, neither there was any Bharosa (assurance) nor did he explain what was Rytu Gosa (woes of farmers). Maybe this was just a warming session for the saffron party. Maybe the meeting which the Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address soon in Telangana would contain some announcements or promises.
Unless the BJP announces its list of candidates, it is difficult to say whether it is really against the BRS or it is just a sort of shadow boxing between the two parties.
In the meantime, the BRS seems to be in a strong position in Telangana. They have a strong track record of development and they are seen as the party that cares about the people of the state. The BJP will need to do a lot of work if they want to break the BRS’s hold on Telangana.■ #hydnews #khabarlive
