KCR meet to give clarity on poll tie up and candidates

HYDERABAD: BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, who called a meeting on Wednesday at Telangana Bhavan, is expected to give clarity on announcement of the party candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections and on having an alliance with the Left parties.

In the meeting, which will be attended by the party’s MLAs, MLCs, MPs, party state executive committee members, and chairpersons of state corporations, Rao is expected to inform the party leaders and cadre that the Congress party is its main political opponent and that the BJP does not have the strength to mount a serious challenge to the party in the Assembly polls. He will also discuss the Karnataka Assembly results and what this means for Telangana, which will hold Assembly elections in December this year.

The CM is planning to declare party candidates for the Assembly polls three months in advance in September to facilitate the candidates get enough time to meet voters in the constituency, undertake campaigning activities and seek people's support for the BRS.

The CM adopted the same strategy during the 2018 Assembly polls. He dissolved the Legislative Assembly on September 6, 2018 and announced candidates on the same day. He forced early polls in the state in December 2018 against the original schedule of April/ May 2019. While all other major opposition parties struggled to declare their candidates until the nomination deadline in November 2018, the BRS candidates were engaged in full-fledged campaigning from September to November. This strategy worked and the TRS (now BRS) won elections with a bumper majority by securing 88 seats of the total 119 and retained power for the second term.