After UP, K Chandrasekhar Rao may rethink early polls

Hyderabad: The BJP’s mammoth wins in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand has enthused the party in TS and AP, but has also provided TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao an opportunity to re-assess his plan to hold elections early, either at the end of 2017 or in early 2018. TRS senior leader and MP B. Vinod Kumar denied any plan to advancing the polls. He said  Mr Chandrasekhar Rao had promised to provide safe drinking water to all houses before the 2019 elections or else he would not seek the people's mandate. Until that promise was fulfilled, there cannot be an election, he said.

BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao had said earlier that it was “very likely” that the Chief Minister would go for the polls as early as in 2018. He is now certain. “Whatever the drawbacks or advantages for the BJP, it is certain that KCR may go for early polls due to the disunited opposition and the wea-kness of the Congress,” he said.

There are three main reasons why the Chief Minister could call for Assembly elections in 2018. First, it will take two years for the BJP to strengthen its base in the state and, second, the Congress is very weak. Third, the local body elections are due in 2018 and any discontent arising from this exercise could reflect on the Assembly elections.

Mr Chandrasekhar Rao in his interactions with party cadres has expressed his reservations over clubbing Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, citing domination of national issues. TRS leaders believe that his approach of attracting Hindu voters with yagams and temple programmes, and Muslim voters with selected schemes and preference in political posts, is the right one. BJP national president Amit Shah’s clear cut instructions to form polling booth-wise committees with 15 workers so that the campaign can be taken to each and every household has not taken off in TS or AP, with party units having reached just 30 per cent of the target.