TRS bid to nullify Congress, BJP head start

HYDERABAD: The political climate in Telangana has heated up much before the Assembly elections that are due in December 2023 with a series of yatras, padayatras and public meetings of Congress and BJP to corner the TRS.

This has been noticed ever since Bandi Sanjay took over as BJP Telangana unit chief in April 2020 and A. Revanth Reddy took charge as TPCC president last month.

While Revanth Reddy boosted the morale of Congress leaders and cadre with frequent protest rallies on various issues and public meetings in the name of ‘Dalit Girijana Dandora’, Sanjay is embarking on a state-wide padayatra from August 24 while Union minister G. Kishan Reddy undertook a three-day ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ from August 19 covering 12 districts which concluded on Saturday.

To counter opposition aggression, the TRS leadership is looking at disgruntled leaders in the Congress and the BJP, who are reportedly angry and upset with the leadership of Revanth Reddy and Sanjay and trying to lure them into TRS, which is ready to offer nominated posts in the party as well as in the government based on their stature.

TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has been holding a series of meetings with ministers and senior party leaders for the past few days to take stock of the political situation against the backdrop of increased political activity by the Congress and the BJP.

Sources said that these meetings primarily discussed discontent senior leaders in the Congress and the BJP. It was decided to identify and categorise them as state-level, district, Assembly constituency, mandal and village level leaders and negotiate with them to join TRS.

The TRS leadership is keenly watching the developments in Congress after Revanth Reddy took over as chief as reports of few senior leaders
complaining to party high command about his 'one-man show' style of functioning and encouraging his old friends from the TD to join Congress without consulting them.

In the case of Sanjay, the TRS leadership is reaching out to disgruntled BJP leaders in his home district Karimnagar. TRS Malkajgiri MLA Mynampally Hanumantha Rao reportedly held talks with Sanjay's rivals and prepared the ground for their entry into TRS.

After coming to power in 2014 with a slender strength of 63 seats in the 119-member Legislative Assembly, the TRS decimated the Opposition by
taking TD, Congress, YSRC, BSP and CPI MLAs into its fold.

The TRS continued 'operation akarsh' even after retaining power in December 2018 with a thumping win. It admitted 12 Congress MLAs, two independents and an equal number of TD MLAs to take its total strength to 104. With Etala Rajendar's resignation, TRS strength is now 103.