HYDERABAD: With general elections due this year, 2023 is crucial for all three major political parties in the State. After all, politics is melodrama, and 2022 witnessed several political dramas such as the poaching of MLAs, raids by the Central and State agencies on political opponents, and also padayatras of netas.
The year 2022 will go down in history as the one which witnessed leaders of the political parties resorting to mudslinging and ‘vengeful politics”. Observers say parties depended on agencies as ‘political tools’ rather than propagating their own ideologies. In the thick of vindictive politics, it remains to be seen which party wins the hearts of the people in 2023 and secures a strong future for the next five years.
The ruling TRS has transformed into Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and is hoping to retain power with the new name. No other political party came to power thrice in a row in southern states. If the BRS hits a hat trick, then 2023 will be a memorable year for the pink party. “BRS will score a hat-trick and KCR will become CM again,” is the oft-repeated assertion by BRS working president KT Rama Rao.
However, BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao have ambitious plans at the national level. Besides becoming the CM for the third time for Telangana, Rao plans to establish a farmer’s government at the Centre after dethroning the BJP-led dispensation. “Ab ki baar, kisan sarkar”, Rao had declared after changing the name of TRS to BRS, indicating his wish to dethrone the BJP government at the Centre.
The BJP, which has been aggressively pushing forward its agenda in the State to form its first government in the state, is giving sleepless nights to BRS leaders. BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has already declared: “We will end the family rule this time”.
To achieve this goal, the BJP may try to lure prominent political leaders from BRS and Congress. “The BJP’s presence is limited to just three dozen seats. It cannot influence the voters in other segments, especially Nalgonda, Khammam and other districts, where the presence of Left parties is strong,” opined an analyst.
The BJP’s inroads into the hinterland of Telangana will damage the prospects of the BRS to the maximum extent. However, it will be the century-old Congress, which suffered a major loss due to the fight between the BRS and the BJP. The Congress, which is plagued with internal squabbles, ‘coverts’, and a lack of unity, has, nonetheless, been trying to put up a brave front.
AICC leader Rahul Gandhi tried to rejuvenate the party with his Bharat Jodo Yatra. Following the footsteps of Rahul Gandhi, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy has decided to launch his own padayatra in the State.
Already, BJP president Bandi Sanjay and YSRCP president YS Sharmila have organised padayatras in different parts of the state. By projecting the BRS and BJP as being hand-in-glove, the Congress is seeking the support of the people to give a chance to the party, which ‘delivered’ a separate Telangana.
The ruling BRS is banking mostly on welfare and developmental programmes like Aasara, and Rythu Bandhu and a manifold increase in paddy production in the last eight years, due to the construction of massive irrigation projects. The BJP on the other hand appealed to the people to dethrone the ‘corrupt’ BRS.
For the first time in 2023, Telangana is set to witness multi-cornered contests in almost all the Assembly segments. TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has already declared that he would bring back the past glory to his party in Telangana. The TDP, YSRCP, BSP, and other smaller parties will field candidates in the Assembly elections.
It will provide an opportunity to those who failed to get Assembly tickets in the major parties. It will be interesting to watch what is in store in 2023 and who will have the last laugh in the multi-cornered contests.