Telangana’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is set to start intense campaigning from October 15 for the state assembly elections next month. On the same day, the party is also expected to release the manifesto.
BRS had already gone into election mode before the polling dates were announced by the Election Commission on Monday. BRS had even released the list of its 115 candidates (for the total 119 assembly seats) in August itself.
On November 9, KCR will file nominations from Gajwel and Kamareddy. After the initial announcement, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) released a more rigorous tentative schedule on Tuesday night, which showed that the CM will address meetings in 40 constituencies between October 15 and November 8.
This clarity is lacking in the schedules of the other two major opposition parties — Congress and BJP.
While Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy has been saying that the candidate list will undergo several rounds of approval, with their Central Election Committee having the final say, the BJP has lined up a series of public meetings to be addressed by Union ministers. However, there is no word regarding the candidate list or manifesto from either of the parties.
According to sources, both the parties will announce their candidate list only after Dussehra on October 24. There is reportedly lack of auspicious dates for such announcements. However, KCR, who is a staunch believer in astrology and Vastu, seems to have given priority to action. His long absence from public eye due to viral fever was also giving rise to rumours, and the announcement of the schedule has put wagging tongues on rest.
Sources say after AICC leader Rahul Gandhi started batting big for caste census, people from Backward Classes (BCs), including several leaders from Telangana, are lobbying in Delhi for tickets.
After the BRS announced its candidates, there were allegations that the BCs did not find adequate representation in the list. Thus, Congress says it may want to address that issue in their list. A few leaders who were not happy with the BRS list have already joined the Congress, notable among them is Mynampally Hanumantha Rao who has been promised two tickets. Besides, the Congress has to chalk out a plan to accommodate defectors.
After the introduction of women’s reservation bill, BRS is facing flak for fielding only seven women for the upcoming state elections. Congress, which too has to identify women candidates, has a tentative bus yatra from October 15, said Revanth Reddy. Though the party has announced six guarantees for the state, there is no manifesto yet.
Meanwhile, the BJP bus yatra, for which one of the routes was finalised, was shelved due to unknown reasons. The party seems to be relying on the promise of a double-engine government and Modi’s magic to influence voters. In his last meeting in Hyderabad, home minister Amit Shah highlighted what Modi had brought to the country including vaccines, improved foreign policy and border security.
With Soyam Bapu Rao being the MP from Adilabad, which has a notable tribal population, and the PM announcing tribal university in Telangana, the BJP is invoking indigenous pride to garner votes.
On Wednesday, BJP state president G Kishan Reddy visited Sammakka Sarakka temple in Mulugu district where the tribal university will be set up. Similarly, the turmeric board that was announced by Modi was a long-standing demand from the farmers of Nizamabad which is represented by their MP Arvind Dharmapuri. The party seems to be concentrating on protecting their existing vote bank.
BJP has three MLAs in Telangana, one of them, Raja Singh (from Goshamahal), has been suspended. Despite this, Singh has repeatedly sworn allegiance to the BJP. It remains to be seen who gets the Goshamahal ticket.
There are reports that many senior leaders in the party are reluctant to contest and have not even filed their nomination. Recently, the party formed 14 committees and selected senior leaders in an attempt to pacify them. There are reports that party’s alleged link with BRS is harming its prospects in the state. The BJP, too, is yet to announce its manifesto.
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