In June, K Lakshman, BJP, Telangana president at the Jana Chaitanya Yatra meeting in Yadadri Bhongir district, had thundered, “BJP has waged a war against the TRS government today. The change should begin from Bhongir for ousting the TRS government in 2019 polls. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao failed to fulfil any of the major poll promises he made in 2014 elections.”
Cut to July and many leaders in the Telangana unit of the BJP have found themselves in a fix. While at the state level, they have taken on the TRS and criticized them for not being serious about the state’s development, national BJP leaders, including the Prime Minister have been praising the TRS.
On Friday, during the no-confidence motion debate in the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lauded the Telangana government for carrying out development works in the state unlike their counterpart Andhra Pradesh.
“The TRS had shown maturity and has focused on development,” the PM said by dissing the Andhra Pradesh government, ruled by Chandrababu Naidu, who had moved the no-confidence motion.
The TRS used this statement in its favour quickly, thereby weakening the allegations levelled by the state BJP.
This is not the first time that the BJP was put in an awkward situation. On June 3, while the Jana Chaitanya Yatra was underway, Union Minister of state for drinking water and sanitation Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi had visited Medak and Sangareddy districts in Telangana to study the flagship project carried out by the Telangana government—Mission Bhagiratha.
The minister was quick to describe the project ‘marvelous’. The project aims to provide safe potable water to each household, which will also rid the state of problems such as fluorosis, which is prevalent in Nalgonda and other backward regions.
Appreciating the TRS government, he had said, “Telangana government has been a role model for other states in the country with its Mission Bhagiratha.”
Incidentally, the yatra across nine erstwhile districts was aimed at detailing the welfare programmes, policies and the developmental works carried out by the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and simultaneously exposing the alleged graft by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party.
“The TRS has already taken advantage of the comment made by the Prime Minister. It is up to us now to reverse this. It is a challenge for state president Lakshmanji to explain to people that Narendra Modi’s comment, was made as a Prime Minister, not as a party leader,” said BJP leader and party spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao.
Another BJP leader, who did not want to be named, lamented that the BJP is struggling in Telangana because the media is biased towards the TRS.
Why it is a challenge for state BJP to defeat TRS
The Telangana BJP unit is given an uphill task to dethrone K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS party and come to power in the newly formed state. However, the party has many challenges, which its national party president Amit Shah is well aware of.
First, the party does not have a strong presence in the state. Though it has five MLAs in the state, all of them are from the city.
Second, the party has announced to go into the 2019 polls without any alliance. However, undeterred, the party chose to put a strong fight to the mighty TRS and chose corruption charge as their weapon against Chandrasekhar Rao, but these charges have been proving a dud, after the PM and union ministers contradictory statements.
The party karyakarthas (workers) are dejected over the Union Ministers commending the TRS government for their schemes and project, which, in turn, have made the scathing attack by the local leaders ineffective.
Congress says TRS is BJP’s ally
Meanwhile, though the state BJP is fighting the TRS on all fronts, including the recent ban of Hindu seer Swami Paripoornananda from Hyderabad, the Congress has been accusing that the BJP and TRS have a secret pact. The party has been claiming that the federal front proposed by the TRS is only to sabotage the Congress from forming a government in 2019.
“By abstaining from the no-trust vote, TRS exposed that they were hand in glove with BJP. PM Modi’s praise of TRS, despite its failures, reaffirms what we have been repeatedly saying — TRS is BJP’s B team,” said Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday.