This growth of the party is being attributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma.
Hyderabad: Through sustained efforts in the last three months, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which romped to power at the Centre with an increased majority, has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in Telangana, relegating the Congress to a third spot. This pitchforks BJP to be in the race for power in this crucial southern state in the next elections.
Surprisingly, the BJP, which managed to get one MLA in the Assembly with strength of 119 in Telangana by losing four of its sitting legislators, is now a force to reckon with. The BJP currently won four Lok Sabha MPs and two Rajya Sabha MPs, after TRS member D. Srinivas almost joined the party and TDP member Garikapati Mohan Rao joined the party this week.
Mohan Rao joined the BJP in the presence of party national working president J.P. Nadda who was here on a two-day visit early this week. BJP’s local leaders are rubbing their eyes in disbelief as they now have six MPs in their fold. They attribute this spurt in growth of the party to the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since recently and renewed efforts of national president Amit Shah to wrest Telangana soon.
Garikapati Mohan Rao, who officially joined BJP in the presence of Nadda, told this newspaper that his decision to join the party was more to do with his desire to play the role of a major Opposition party in the state in the wake of anti-people polices of the TRS government. He explained that he couldn’t play the role by continuing in TDP, while the Congress is a marginalised force.
This is precisely the view of dozens of other leaders who defected from Congress, TDP and even TRS to embrace BJP at a convention titled “Namo Bharat-Nava Telangana” held at Nampally Exhibition Grounds here on 18 August. At this convention, Nadda declared that BJP would settle for nothing short of occupying the space of ruling TRS in Telangana.
Nadda, like Shah a few weeks ago, made it clear that the BJP leadership had no secret pact with TRS chief and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and urged his party cadre not to be confused on this. He was referring to the doubts expressed by some senior leaders about KCR’s recent moves of backing the Modi government in Parliament on several crucial bills, including the abrogation of Article 370.
Nadda told his party seniors that KCR’s cooperation with the Modi government was part of floor management by the BJP to run its parliamentary needs, but nothing to do with the party’s ambitions to come to power in this southern state. Nadda asked the BJP cadre and local leaders not to fall for the impression created by KCR that he had an understanding with the PM.
Launching a frontal attack on KCR, Nadda called upon to remove TRS from power as it was in the grip of “family rule”. “KCR has monopolised all the power like a medieval feudal lord and wants to impose his son and daughter on people of the state. BJP alone can liberate Telangana from the clutches of KCR and his family,” said Nadda, to cheers from crowds.
To show that BJP had no truck with KCR, Nadda also leveled serious allegations against the TRS government that it is steeped in large-scale corruption in every major scheme. “KCR has increased the budget of Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Scheme from Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore just to fill his pockets, his Mission Kakatiya (drinking water supply scheme) is Commission Kakatiya,” said Nadda. Nadda worked behind the scenes for the entry of senior leaders, including G. Vivek, former MP who left TRS, former minister Jagan Naik who left TRS, former TDP MLA Erra Chandrasekhar, former TDP leaders Shobha Rani, P. Rajini Kumari, Sama Ranga Reddy and 200 other block level functionaries of TDP and Congress.
BJP leaders are in talks with former deputy chief minister and senior Congress leader Damodara Raja Narsimha who lost from Andole (SC) Assembly seat in the last year Assembly elections. Already by admitting Vivek into its fold, BJP has widened its Dalit base in Telangana. The entry of Raja Narsimha would further consolidate it.
BJP is examining the legal aspects of Rajya Sabha member D. Srinivas’s entry into the party. Srinivas, who won on TRS ticket, has been keeping away from the party for the last seven months after he fell apart from KCR’s daughter and former MP Kavitha. Srinivas, along with Mohan Rao, would constitute one third of TRS’ six MPs in Rajya Sabha. This figure is enough to declare a split in the party, sources said.
Telangana has a total of seven members in Rajya Sabha and K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao is a Congress member. Whether Mohan Rao and Srinivas can split from TRS and join BJP officially is to be examined by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu. BJP sources said that they were examining the legal aspects of the defection of Srinivas and Mohan Rao into the party and a decision on this would be made in a few days.