BRS aims for major swing in Dalit votes in its favour

‘KCR is targeting to get the votes of Telangana’s 17% Dalit population, which can help him counter the tide of anti-incumbency’.

NEW DELHI: With the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) unveiling the 125-foot statue of B.R. Ambedkar in Telangana, party leaders have said that party supremo K. Chandrashekhar Rao is laser-focused on Dalit voters and wants to clean sweep all 31 reserved seats in the state.
As BRS MLAs represent 28 reserved seats currently, a BRS leader said, “There will be a huge swing in Dalit voters in our party’s favour. KCR will mark out the BRS government’s initiatives, such as the Telangana State Program for Rapid Incubation Dalit Entrepreneurs Incentive Scheme, which has allowed Dalit entrepreneurs to establish their own units, and the Dalit Bandhu scheme, which promises to empower the community by providing financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to Dalit families. Moreover, in every constituency, there is a target of 1,500 beneficiaries and up until now, there are already hundreds of beneficiaries (of 10 lakh assistance) in each constituency.”
Word in political circles is that KCR wants to leave no stone unturned as he seeks to grab over 100 seats to keep his electoral dominance intact and for that, he is targeting the 17% Dalit population which can help him ride the tide of anti-incumbency. Moreover, by doing that, a person aware of the matter said, he wants to send a strong message across the state which will help him gain more relevance in Lok Sabha elections.
A BRS functionary in the state said, “Though the Dalits have traditionally been with the Congress, now they are voting both ways. They vote for BRS and with this step, the equation is expected to change drastically. There will be a major swing in Dalit voters and most of them will vote for the BRS.”
However, a person who has worked with different survey agencies told The Sunday Guardian: “We cannot come to a conclusion right away. The scheme has not reached Dalits the way it should have. So, there is resentment within a section of the Dalit population. It is to be seen how the BRS will spread its narrative and consolidate its Dalit vote bank.”
In the larger picture of KCR’s political dominance in the state and noting his first electoral victory, where he won 63 seats out of the 119 Assembly seats, he wasn’t comfortable, an analyst said, with the numbers then and made around a score of MLAs defect from other parties to switchover to his. Then, later he had 90 MLAs. Moreover, since then, he has tried to keep the seat count intact around that number. For instance, in the 2018 Assembly elections also, KCR had a reduced seat count of 88. However, he managed to make 12 Congress MLA and three more legislators from other parties defect and switchover to his party. The party currently has 103 MLAs in the Assembly.
A state-based political analyst said, “The party’s battle is not only about seats this time, but it is also about the vote percentage. Last time, the party had around 47% votes followed by Congress’ 28%. This time, the battle is bigger as the BJP has also grown considerably as it is seen on ground. At the least, the BJP is at wider display in the state than before. So we can’t discount the probability of BRS losing some of their votes to the BJP. However, KCR does not want that to happen. He wants to keep everyone a distant second and third.”