Congress has got a boost in Telangana from the Karnataka win, but it doesn’t mean the party can rout the BRS’.
New Delhi
Though Assembly elections in Telangana are near, senior leaders in Congress seem less serious about the polls. The reason, a senior Congress leader explained, is “our top leaders think that they won’t be able to pull off victory in the state; so why would they be serious about it”.
A source privy to the developments told The Sunday Guardian that Sunil Konugolu (poll strategist who played an important role in Congress’s Karnataka win) had told the Gandhis and senior most leaders, before the Karnataka elections, that the party cannot win Telangana Assembly elections. Thus, the hopelessness (of not winning the state) over Telangana may still be in the minds of the top leadership. He said, “Whatever he said may still be influencing the minds of the top leadership—that is the reason they are not so serious with Telangana as they are with other poll-bound states.”
A BRS leader said, “The Congress does have a heavy boost in Telangana from the Karnataka win, but it doesn’t mean the party will rout the BRS. For that, they need a big leader to command and also have a competitive face to run the campaign against K. Chandrashekhar Rao.”
Senior leaders suggest that a survey that showed exact number of seats for each party in Karnataka had conducted the survey in Telangana as well and that showed that, going by the current public pulse, the Congress will be able to get more than 32 Assembly seats, which is double what the party was confidently expecting (at around 15 seats) before the Karnataka elections. “It showed that the electorate wants to vote for the Congress, but there is no leadership in the state. So that could be one unpleasant factor for voters as they don’t know which figurehead of the party they are relying on. On the other hand, there is incumbent K. Chandrashekhar Rao who has already launched so many public welfare schemes and is also popular among the electorate. Congress may give a fight, but it won’t be able to have a neck-to-neck fight.”
Senior leaders also claim that there is less understanding among top brass about the southern state. A senior Congress leader in the state said, “If there is any top leader who understands Telangana better, it is former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh (MP) Digvijaya Singh. However, there are elections in MP as well and thus he has responsibilities in his own state and cannot venture to invest his time and energy in Telangana.”
Also, party insiders say that the current Telangana Pradesh Committee president has been given free hand in the election matters. However, he is being seen by a section of party leaders as less able to be inclusive in caste-related matters.
A political analyst said, “After the Karnataka win, there are two of its adjacent states which are poll-bound. One in the north (Madhya Pradesh), one in the south (Telangana). Both have found momentum in their party cadres. But the big power is derived from a powerful leader. Congress doesn’t have a powerful central leadership like BJP has in PM Modi. So it has to depend on state leaders. Madhya Pradesh has one leader in Kamal Nath, who is a popular figure and can get massive amounts of votes. Which leader does the Congress have in Telangana? There is no popular leader in Telangana. So they won’t be able to aggressively capitalise on the Karnataka momentum.”