Hyderabad: Making big inroads in Telangana, the BJP doubled its Lok Sabha in the state from four to eight and increased its vote share to around 35 per cent. This is a significant jump from the 13.9 per cent votes it had secured in the 2023 Assembly election, when it won eight seats.
This mirrored the situation in the previous rounds of elections: The BJP won 6.98 per cent of the vote in the 2018 state polls, when only T. Raja Singh won from Goshamahal, and 19.65 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections held four months later in 2019 when the party won four Lok Sabha seats.
Talking to Deccan Chronicle, BJP politburo member Dr K. Laxman, besides admitting historical factors which helped the party, said that the sacrifice of Sangh ideologues and party workers during the period of Maoist activity had helped the party grow in the state. Nationalist forces joined hands with the BJP after jihadi groups indulged in violence and bomb blasts. The strong intelligence network and active counter-terror operations during Modi rule, gave relief to people from terror activity, Dr Laxman said.
The active role played by BJP in the second phase of Telangana movement was also a key factor; senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, as leader of opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha, was vocal in raising Telangana issue.
With BRS losing the 2023 elections, the BJP stepped in to fill the vacuum. Going by polling data, it has managed to get the BRS and the TD votes in the Lok Sabha elections. The alliance with the TD in neighbouring AP helped the BJP to get the TD vote bank too this time.
Dr Laxman, who is also OBC Morcha president, said that the BJP had made an inclusive approach at all levels in the party which had helped it get the support of the 52 per cent of Backward Classes and 18 per cent Dalit voters. Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the biggest OBC face, giving legal status to the BC Commission and accommodating more members from the community in the Union Council of Ministers helped the party to attract the BC vote.
