BJP yet to decide on candidates in Telangana

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday began the exercise for selection of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana, the euphoria among the leaders and cadre is missing in the party, a senior party leader familiar with the matter said.

The BJP, which was considered as the front runner for power in Telangana and was ahead of the Congress in its fight against the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, is lagging behind not only in the selection of candidates, but also in gearing up the leaders and cadre for the battle.

“Only around three months are left for the assembly elections and it is the time the party is expected to go in the top gear by holding public meetings and booth-level strategy meetings. But for some strange reason, our party leadership is yet to kickstart its activity,” the party leader said.

The BRS has already plunged into the election mood by declaring candidates for 115 out of 119 assembly seats on August 21. Party president and chief minister KCR has kickstarted the election campaign from Medak two days later.

The Congress, too, has completed the exercise for the selection of the candidates and finalised its first list, which is expected to be released after the conduct of Congress Working Committee meeting scheduled to be held on September 16 and 17 in Hyderabad.

Compared to its principal rivals, the atmosphere in the BJP camp is dull, though it started receiving applications from the ticket aspirants to contest the elections.

“The applications will be received from 10 am to 4 pm till September 10. A screening committee will be formed to scrutinise the applications and shortlist the candidates, after the last date,” BJP general secretary Gujjula Premender Reddy said.

After the scrutiny at the state-level, the list would be forwarded to the national screening committee, which would announce the candidates, he said, without specifying the date.

While nearly 800 aspirants had applied for the BJP tickets in the last four days, surprisingly no seniors have applied for the party tickets till date.

“The BJP national leadership has asked all the seniors including state party president G Kishan Reddy, former president Bandi Sanjay, parliamentary board member K Laxman, MPs Dharmapuri Arvind and Soyam Bapu Rao to contest the assembly elections; they have not submitted their applications till date,” the party leader quoted above said.

The BJP leader said Union home minister Amit Shah, during his recent visit to Telangana to address a public meeting at Khammam on August 27, told the party leaders not to be in hurry in the selection of candidates but to focus on taking the achievements of the Narendra Modi government into the people.

“Accordingly, the state party leadership is focussing on party programmes like Mahila Morcha and Kisan Morcha meetings, and Mera Mati-Mera Desh. This has not generated any kind of enthusiasm among the party cadre, at a time when we have to launch an aggressive attack on the BRS government and come out with our election manifesto,” the party leader said.

According to him, the party, which was in high spirits till three months ago, suddenly became inactive after the change of guard in the state party. “When Bandi Sanjay was at the helm of the state BJP, there used to be hectic activity in the party – like his padayatra in the name of Praja Sangrama Yatra, street corner meetings with booth-level party workers and a series of agitations against the government,” he pointed out.

But after Union tourism minister G Kishan Reddy took over as the state BJP chief, replacing Sanjay, there was a sudden lull in the party. “Kishan Reddy is no doubt a senior leader with a lot of credibility, but the party needed an aggressive and outspoken leader like Sanjay at this moment,” the BJP leader said, adding that the party cadres are now waiting for such agitational programmes from the leadership.

The BJP high command sent a team of party MLAs from various states as observers to Telangana to visit every constituency between August 21 and 28. “The feedback they received from the local cadre is that they are not happy with the change in the party leadership. The people also questioned the party observers whether there is any understanding between the BJP and the BRS,” he pointed out.

Even senior leaders like Eatala Rajender and K Rajagopal Reddy, who had defected from the BRS and the Congress respectively with high hopes, are now said to be disappointed with lack of aggression in the party. They have become inactive of late.

Political analyst G Muralikrishna of Hyderabad-based political research group People’s Pulse said a study conducted by his organization revealed that the BJP doesn’t have strong candidates in at least 90 assembly constituencies. Even the four sitting MPs do not have the capability to ensure victory of at least four MLAs each in their respective domains.

“Going by the present atmosphere in the Telangana BJP, it is unlikely that the party would have a chance to be in the second position, let alone coming to power in Telangana,” he said.

Efforts to get a response from Kishan Reddy failed.