HYDERABAD: The BJP is bristling with confidence that it would get not less than 300 seats in the ensuing elections to Lok Sabha and believes it has potential to grow in Telangana in future with the Congress being on the life support. At an exclusive interaction with senior journalists here on Tuesday, BJP General Secretary P Muralidhar Rao said that though it would be tough for BJP to make its presence felt in Telangana in the near term, it is, however, on the gravy train at the national level.
“The BJP is poised for a better victory now than in 2014 because, this time the party is getting additional strength from “Modi’s voters,” a constituency that had been formed during the last five years because of the welfare schemes that the NDA had come up with. The BJP leader, covering a vast gamut of issues and the promises made in the election manifesto, however, sought to play down questions over the growing feeling that the BJP stalwarts like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are being sidelined.
“Our party does not disrespect them. If Advaniji is replaced by Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, it was because of the former’s age. It should not be construed as giving him a gentle brush off. The party always held all the seniors, who built the party, in high esteem and the criticism that they were not on the same page of Modi and Shah was baseless and far-fetched,” he said.
The BJP leader, on the prospects of the BJP in Telangana, said that his party had a potential to grow, though the road might be arduous to trudge in the initial stages. The confidence that the party has future stems from the fact that the Congress was on its way out, leaving a void for the BJP to fill. Many of the Congress leaders are joining the TRS because ideologically there is not much difference between the two.
Cong agenda similar to TRS’
“The Congress has an agenda similar to the TRS. It had friendly relations with AIMIM as the TRS has now. Both the parties have a similar approach to Vande Mataram Movement and in fighting Nizam’s legacy. Congress is a national party while the TRS is a similar party but with a regional flavour. This is the reason why many seniors are leaving Congress for the TRS. Those who cannot adjust to the TRS habitat are joining us,” he said and pointed out that the talk that BJP is a friendly party of TRS, which is a lie, “had come as a disadvantage to us in the Assembly elections”.
As regards the BJP’s prospects in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections at the national level, he said that about six months ago the narrative was that the BJP had become a loner with the NDA partners being unhappy with it.
“But now the NDA is strong. We have Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, JD (U), AGP and in South too we have struck alliances in Tamil Nadu. This apart, the `6,000 input support scheme for farmers and the other welfare measures listed out in our manifesto would capture the imagination of the voter,” he said. “We have proved that we are a clean government, no scams or scandals, during the last five years. We have had a nationalist, decisive and firm government with clarity on issues.”
To a question, he said that abrogation of Article 370 and 35A had been the BJP’s stand all along and let the nation debate the how reasonable the posturing of the National Conference and PDP that if the BJP does what it had said, they would secede from the country. “Kashmir will continue to be an integral part of the country. There is no compromise on that.”