HYDERABAD: With voting day rapidly approaching, the Congress has successfully forced the BJP on the back foot with its allegations that the saffron party will scrap reservations and change the Constitution if it is voted back to power for a third consecutive time.
The air in BJP corridors is thick with tension these days as the party leaders work overtime to counter the Congress allegations, which they feel could dent their chances of victory in a majority of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who is leading the Congress campaign as TPCC chief, appears to have successfully exploited the chinks in the BJP offensive with his claims that the saffron party is determined to scrap reservations and change the Constitution. Revanth has forced all top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to repeatedly deny his allegations and issue clarifications in every meeting across India.
Madigas’ support
The saffron party had been expecting Madiga and a majority of BC voters to favour it in the Lok Sabha elections, but the Congress campaign has put immense pressure on its leaders. The BJP leaders are trying to convey the message to voters that there are no such plans and the party did not make any move to scrap reservations or change the Constitution in the last 10 years it was in power.
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, who is also the BJP state president, has the unenviable task of rebuffing the Congress onslaught. He is focused on clarifying and condemning the statements by Revanth.
Kishan has some help from other state BJP leaders, who have been trying to steer the campaign towards issues such as phone-tapping. However, Revanth has been successful in keeping the focus on reservations and the Constitution in his public meetings, while also accusing the BJP and Modi of neglecting Telangana’s interests. This has led to concerns in the BJP that there is no proper counterbalance to Revanth’s campaign. The party is now pinning its hope on Modi and Shah to step up to counter the chief minister’s criticisms.
The talk in senior BJP circles that the allegations of scrapping reservations and changing the Constitution are nothing but a strategy orchestrated by the Congress leadership and being implemented by Revanth. The seniors believe that the party failed to draw an effective counter to this strategy and this has heightened tension in BJP ranks.
The seniors are now hoping that the coming tours of Modi and Shah will boost the BJP’s prospects and give it the push it needs to achieve its target of winning a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in the state.