BRS will rejig lists in case ONOE enacted

Hyderabad: The BRS has decided to rework its election strategy and its expansion plans in the event of simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in April-May. Party sources said that they are devising 'Plan-B' under which it will review the list of candidates announced for Assembly polls and consider shifting a few of them to Lok Sabha polls.

Party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's plan to contest two Assembly seats (Gajwel and Kamareddy) is also likely to be changed if Assembly polls are held next year.

Telangana Assembly polls are due in December. But with the Centre coming up with the idea of 'one nation, one election (ONOE)' all of a sudden, the BRS leadership believes that TS Assembly polls may be postponed to 2024. Even if it takes more time to implement 'one nation-one election' due to procedural delays and hurdles, the BRS leadership believes that the Centre may at least opt for holding Legislative Assembly polls for nine states, including Telangana, along with Lok Sabha polls in 2024 as a precursor to the 'one nation, one election' move.

As per the original schedule, Assembly elections are due in December at Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram while Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim are scheduled for April. The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled for April-May 2024. The BRS leadership believes that the Centre may prefer Assembly polls in these nine states along with Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

Party sources said that Rao’s plan is to retain power for a third term in Telangana and later focus on national politics and BRS expansion plans in the remaining five months before Lok Sabha polls. As of now, BRS is focussed only on Maharashtra. It had plans to step up activities in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with an eye on Lok Sabha polls.

But if the Assembly polls are held along with Lok Sabha polls, Rao and the BRS leadership will be forced to confine to Telangana till April-May to focus on simultaneous elections.

This would hit the party's expansion plans in other states before Lok Sabha polls.

Moreover, Rao had already announced that he will contest two Assembly seats. But if Lok Sabha elections are held simultaneously, it is highly unlikely that he will contest two Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat, said party sources.

In that case, Rao may prefer to contest in one Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat, sources said.