The count down begins! With less than two weeks to the November 30 Telangana state elections, a frenzy of political activity is clearly visible. The state’s 119 seats are up for grabs. With the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) deciding to take a sabbatical and bowing out of this year’s Telangana elections, it boils down to the mass appeal of the electoral promises of the BRS, Congress and the BJP and the effectiveness of their campaign strategies.
The BRS (Bharath Rashtra Samithi) party is ahead of the others, both in campaign news as well as pre-poll predictions. The race between the state’s big three (BRS, BJP, Congress) is marked by a lackluster, room-for-improvement campaign of the BJP, a desperate but disjointed attempt for publicity by the Congress and an above-average, currently best-of-the-three show, put on by a hopeful BRS, gunning for a third consecutive win.
So far, with less than two weeks to the November 30 D-Day for a single phase election, the BRS is leading on both fronts – attractive poll promises as well as a motivated, high energy campaign by the most recognized faces of its party – Chief Minister K Chandrasekar Rao, his son K Rama Rao, daughter K Kavitha and brother-in-law Harish Rao.
In their election rallies, the BRS leaders have not missed a chance to mention every little thing capable of influencing the electorate. In particular, they have publicized the in-fighting within the Congress and the lack of clarity on a chief ministerial candidate, with satirical references to all self-declared “senior” Congress leaders, vying for the chief minister’s seat. They have pointed out that the Congress party’s “culture of corruption” had slowed down the state’s progress in the past and that the party’s exaggerated, unrealistic, over-hyped poll promises should not be relied on, as the Congress has not been able to fulfill similar, unfeasible poll promises in neighboring Karnataka state.
The BJP appears to have realistic expections from Telangana. It hopes to retain its recently gained ground in the upcoming elections, while accepting that it needs to grow its vote share much more significantly, before hoping to win an election on its own. In light of this realization by the BJP’s central leadership, its strategy in Telangana is perhaps focused on selecting the most likely partner in the state, in an effort to eliminate its chief political foe both at the central and the state levels – the Congress!
The BJP’s state campaign has lost some steam after its popular leader, Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s transfer to a national position. In any case, there appears to be an undeclared, unofficial understanding between the BJP and the BRS to stay united and keep the Congress out. The BJP hopes to carry a predictable number of seats it hopes to win in the state and thereafter hopes to play king-maker to the party that comes close to the halfway mark of Telangana’s 119 seats. Needless to say, the BJP would prefer to extend its support to the BRS party rather than the Congress.
The highlights of the BJP’s rallies are topped by appearances of both Prime Minister Modi and Mr. Amit Shah, at well attended meetings in Hyderabad. Their speeches have centered around offering the chief minister’s seat to a member of the Backward Classes as well as promises to focus on the state’s economic development. Incidentally, the BJP’s ex-state president for Telangana and its most popular leader, Bandi Sanjay, belongs to a BC community.
It is interesting to note that both the BRS and the BJP have, over the last two-three months, stayed away from trading barbs against each other, preferring instead, to use all their combined ammunition against the Congress! A united bid, to tackling a common enemy, seems to be an agreed-upon election strategy between the senior leaders of the BJP and the BRS.
Analysts claim this politically-odd behaviour, stemming from leaders of both parties, training their guns together on the Congress, lend credence to the earlier speculation that the BJP and the BRS, do indeed have a covert understanding for this year’s state polls as well as next year’s national elections.
Their unity may help split the traditional vote banks of the Congress (scheduled classes, backward classes and minorities), likely resulting in a higher vote share for a combined BRS-BJP. The BRS hopes to carry a majority of the state’s muslim vote on the weight of its current partnership with the AIMIM party (All India Majlis-e-Itehaddul Muslimeen) led by Hyderabad-based Asaduddin Owaisi.
The strategy hopes to help keep the BRS in power at the state level and the BJP in power at the central level. The tacit, unofficial understanding between the two parties, would have a mutual benefit and a higher chance of winning, for both.
Shivani is a freelance writer based out of Vijayawada.
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