HYDERABAD: The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are not able to keep pace with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the political chess game. They wonder what they should do in case he goes in for early elections.The BJP is quite worried as it does not have much support at the ground level while the Congress has been losing its base to the TRS. Though the BJP wanted to solicit leaders from the other parties, it has so far not been very successful.
In many constituencies, BJP does not have strong candidates. Even in Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, which BJP State president Bandi Sanjay represents, there are issues in all Assembly segments except Huzurabad. Karimnagar Assembly segment will not pose a problem for BJP in case Bandi Sanjay decides to contest for Assembly election and for Huzurabad, the party anyway has sitting MLA Eatala Rajender.
In Greater Hyderabad, the BJP has some hold. The party won 46 divisions in GHMC elections. It won one Assembly seat — Goshamahal, and one Lok Sabha seat — Secunderabad. Other leaders like former MLAs Chintala Ramachandra Reddy and NVSS Prabhakar are active and the buck stops there. In Khammam district, BJP does not have anyone who can win a seat. In Medak district also, except for sitting MLA M Raghunandan Rao in Dubbaka and former MLA Nandiswar Goud in Patancheru and Babu Mohan in Andole, the BJP draws a blank.
In Nalgonda, the BJP has strong candidates only in Munugode and Suryapet constituencies. In Mahbubnagar district, though BJP has leaders like DK Aruna and AP Jitendar Reddy, there is no leader of considerable weight in other constituencies. In Nizamabad, except for Armoor, Nizamabad Urban and Kamareddy, no leader of stature is there to represent the BJP. In Rangawreddy also, except in Vikarabad, there is a strong candidate in other segments.
In Warangal and Adilabad, BJP has no support at the ground level in 70 per cent of the seats. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently said that the BJP will form the government in Telangana during an interview in a TV news channel. But to make his statement come true, the party needs popular leaders in at least 80-85 Assembly constituencies. In the present context, the BJP needs more than 50-55 candidates of considerable following to give a tough fight to the ruling TRS.
Congress slightly better off
The Congress leadership is also not ready for early elections. TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy is in Delhi for the last few days, discussing the composition of the new structure of the party in the State. Riven by factionalism and lack of coordination among the leaders, the party is not able to inspire the people. On the other hand, the party is shrinking in size as leaders begin exiting in search of greener pastures in other parties. Compared to the BJP, the grand old party is better off as it has candidates in many constituencies who include former ministers, MPs and MLAs. For instance, in Nalgonda district, the party has leaders in Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, R Damodar Reddy, K Jana Reddy, Addanki Dayakar, Padmavati.
Across the State, the Congress has strong candidates in around 55 constituencies who including candidates with bright prospects of winning in 38 constituencies. In erstwhile Mahbubnagar, the party has Revanth Reddy, former ministers Nagam Janardhan Reddy, G Chinna Reddy, former MLAs Dr Vamsi Krishna, Vamsi Chander Reddy, Erra Shekar, and Mallu Ravi.
In Karimnagar, sitting MLA D Sridhar Babu, MLC T Jeevan Reddy, Vijaya Ramana Rao, KK Mahender Reddy, Aadi Srinivas, Medipally Satyam, K Satyanarayana are there to represent the party in the elections.
Warangal dist scenario
In Warangal district, the party has MLA D Anasuya alias Seethakka, former union minister Balaram Naik, Nayini Rajender Reddy, former MLA Kommuri Prathap Reddy, former minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah, former MLA Dontireddy Madhava Reddy.
In Nizamabad, the former Ministers Sudharshan Reddy, Shabbir Ali, former MLA Eravarti Anil, working president Mahesh Kumar Goud have a considerable following in their respective constituencies. In other segments, the party is weak. In Adilabad district, except for former MLA Aleti Maheswar Reddy, former MLC Premsagar Rao there are no candidates who could be called leaders in other constituencies.
Though Congress traditionally had cadres in the erstwhile Khammam district, they migrated along with their MLAs to TRS. In GHMC also, Congress does not have suitable candidates in constituencies including Sanathnagar, Secunderabad, Kukatpally, Rajejndranagar, Amberpet and Uppal.
Waiting for the TRS-rejects
Both BJP and the Congress have pinned hopes on the MLAs who might not get tickets of the ruling party or those who are denied tickets in preference to others in the party. The two parties hope to cajole them to join their ranks and field them as their candidates in the elections. There are about 15 to 20 MLAs in the TRS who might not get tickets. They might be easy targets for both parties.
If KCR goes in for early elections in April-May next year, the situation would become dicey for the two parties as they would have little time to mobilise men and resources. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is scheduled to address public meetings in various districts in December. Though BJP seems to be poll ready to some extent, the Congress is yet to get its act together.
CONGRESS NOT ABLE TO INSPIRE
Compared to the BJP, the grand old party is better off as it has candidates in many constituencies who include former ministers, MPs and MLAs. However, riven by factionalism and lack of coordination among the leaders, the party is not able to inspire the people. Many of its leaders are leaving for greener political pastures
BJP’S LOFTY DREAMS
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently said that the BJP will form the government in Telangana. But for this, the party needs popular leaders in at least 80-85 Assembly constituencies. In the present context, the BJP needs more than 50-55 candidates of considerable following to give a tough fight to the ruling TRS.