Ahead of 2023 election, BJP pulls out all stops to win Nov 3 Telangana by-poll

 

Central BJP leaders may be deputed for the canvassing as well even as the election campaign is being steered in the state and hinges on issues such as corruption and poor delivery of schemes

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pulling out all the stops to win the November 3 by-poll to Telangana’s Munugode assembly seat as it sees the election as a precursor to the 2023 polls in the state. Functionaries aware of the matter said central leaders may be deputed for the canvassing as well even as BJP’s election campaign is being steered in the state and hinges on issues such as corruption and poor delivery of schemes.

The BJP has launched a campaign against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) accusing it of corruption and failing to meet promises. It has effectively positioned itself as the principal opposition even as the BJP won just one of the 119 seats in the 2018 assembly polls. BJP wrested the Dubbak and Huzurabad seats in 2021 by-polls.

The BJP has claimed it is getting support from all castes and that will be key to winning the upcoming election.

The BJP is buoyed by the joining of popular leaders from across castes. Senior leaders said it is an indication that the BJP has emerged as “the alternative to both the Congress and the TRS.” Leaders such as Etala Rajender, a former state minister, ex-Congress spokesperson Dasoju Sravan, and former TRS Member of Parliament Konda Vishweshwar Reddy have been among those who have joined the BJP.

“The BJP has an advantage in this particular seat [Munugode] as there is immense anti-incumbency against the TRS. The Congress is dissipated and [assembly member] K Rajagopal Reddy’s resignation from the party reinforces what we have been saying,” said a BJP state functionary, requesting anonymity.

The BJP has attacked the TRS and chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is known as KCR, and has been playing up the instances of the ruling party distributing meat, liquor, and cash in the constituency to woo voters. “There is no popular support for the KCR family or the party. They are only banking on corruption to woo voters. The BJP has a development model, unlike the state government that made several promises including houses for the Scheduled Castes and did not deliver. The freebies will not work,” the functionary quoted above said.

A second BJP functionary said the BJP now has the support of the Kapus, the Gouds, the Yadavs, and tribal communities that have benefitted from the central schemes. “The percentage of backward castes is about 40-50% in all constituencies... [They] are also with the BJP…effectively barring in a few places such as Khammam and Nalagonda, the BJP is a challenger to the TRS.”