HYDERABAD: With the high stakes Karnataka Assembly elections scheduled to take place on May 10, the BJP and Congress will be dispatching their prominent leaders from Telangana and AP to actively campaign and attract the votes of Telugu-speaking people living in the neighbouring State.
During the last Assembly elections, the BJP had sent around 20-25 leaders from Telangana, and a similar number from AP, to Karnataka. Each of them were made in-charges of different Assembly constituencies having a sizable population of Telugu-speaking people.
BJP national vice-president DK Aruna, who is the Karnataka BJP co-in-charge, has been entrusted with the responsibility of drawing the Telugu votes in favour of the saffron party.
Recently, when AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge stopped in Hyderabad on his way to Karnataka from Delhi, he held a meeting with the State leaders at the Shamshabad airport. One of the points of discussion was the Karnataka Assembly elections. Kharge told the Telangana Congress leaders to actively campaign for the party in those elections.
While Congress MLA D Sridhar Babu is the AICC in-charge of Karnataka, and former MLA SA Sampath Kumar, the AICC in-charge of Maharashtra, are expected to be taking an active part in the election campaign, several other party leaders who will be deputed there. TPCC president A Revanth Reddy himself will be participating in the election campaign in Karnataka.
Incidentally, BRS is yet to take a decision as to whether to contest in the Karnataka elections, or to support any party there. The districts in Karnataka where Telugu-speaking people are in considerable numbers include Bellari, Yadgir, Bidar, Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Raichur, Kalaburgi, Kolar, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Koppal. Telugu-speaking people play a decisive role in 43 Assembly constituencies.
BJP State leadership in Telangana has already sent a list to the party’s central leadership, of names of the leaders who will be going to Karnataka for campaigning. As part of the party’s campaign there, various duties like media, social media and other tasks, apart from regular campaigning will be given to the leaders. According to analysts, the battle for Karnataka is too close to call, and both the national parties are looking to accept all the help they can.