South India has been a region that has been elusive for the BJP. With the exception of Karnataka, the party has not been able to make significant electoral gains in any of the other four states. But the party is now making a concerted effort at ‘conquering’ the region. Telangana has presented itself as an ideal political ground for the BJP’s ‘mission south’.
For the BJP, the current political situation in Telangana is favourable on many counts, say BJP leaders. The current state government, led by Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s (TRS) K Chandrashekhar Rao, has been in power since the formation of the state in 2014. “Despite denial from the TRS, there is a growing anti-incumbency in the state. It was obvious in KCR's daughter Kavitha’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections. We were instructed a couple of years ago to not wait for elections but leverage this factor,” says a BJP leader from the state.
Sources close to BJP leaders say that the party’s state unit has been working systematically since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to prepare ground for the upcoming elections. Although the party won just four of the 17 seats from Telangana in the LS polls, their vote share was over 19%.
In the absence of a strong regional party as the opposition, BJP has won the optics battle and has placed itself as a formidable opposition to TRS, despite having just three seats in the state Assembly.
TRS’s proximity to the AIMIM and its president Asaduddin Owaisi has been fodder for BJP’s anti-minority campaign in the state in the past too. But with even PM Modi referring to Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar, and UP CM Adityanath visiting the Bhagyalakshmi Temple right after the National Executive meet, the messaging was made unambiguous.
The primary target, however, will remain KCR and his family. Dynasts in politics have been a talking point for the BJP for many years now. And in KCR, the party has found a perfect target. BJP insiders say that a large number of TRS leaders have been approached with the bait that in TRS, leaders outside of KCR’s family can aspire to neither lead the party nor the government. Citing the example of Etela Rajender, leaders have been assured senior positions in the BJP if they join the party, the source said. KCR’s increasing inaccessibility not just to the general public but to a majority of leaders including ministers and legislators has helped fuel this idea, the source added.
In addition, several leaders from Congress and TDP too have been approached with similar offers, according to sources. With the electoral prospects of both the parties continuing to dwindle in the state, the BJP has been assuring them of a stable political future, if they jump ship.
The BJP has been working on the ground in Telangana with plans for further social engineering, keeping the OBC community in mind. Promoting leaders like Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Etala Rajender and K Laxman from OBC communities has helped BJP sharpen its attack against KCR who hails from the Velama community.
But the biggest selling point for the BJP remains PM Modi and his projected model of development. Voters in urban areas like Hyderabad, and youth in rural areas, can be wooed using promises of better development and job opportunities, BJP insiders believe. The campaign is to be designed around KCR failing the ideals behind formation of Telangana, by claiming that power and development is still not decentralised.
For the BJP, the electoral defeat of KCR in Telangana also serves a larger purpose. Taking on a strong regional leader like KCR and doing so successfully will also send a message to other leaders who have national aspirations.
