Highly placed sources told Deccan Chronicle that the central leadership also didn’t want the divide between the party’s old-timers and newcomers in Telangana to grow further, and was keen on ending the infighting
Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party under no circumstances would leave an impression among the people that it has been soft-pedalling with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and endanger its plans to position itself as the lone alternative to the Congress in Telangana.
Highly placed sources told Deccan Chronicle that the central leadership also didn’t want the divide between the party’s old-timers and newcomers in Telangana to grow further, and was keen on ending the infighting. The party is firm on disciplining the leaders, who air their views contrary to the party’s stand.
The BJP lost its rhythm in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly polls after changing its guard in the state. The delay in the arrest of BRS MLC K. Kavitha, the daughter of former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, in the Delhi liquor scam also dented its image. However, the party recovered quickly and put up a spectacular show in the Lok Sabha polls, winning eight of the 17 seats in Telangana.
The Congress, in particular Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, has renewed the allegations of a BJP-BRS nexus, citing the delay in action by the Enforcement Directorate in the Formula E scam and bringing back the phone-tapping accused police officerT. Prabhakar Rao, who is in the United States, to India.
The party’s state-by-state focus and strengthening the organisation set-up yielded results in Odisha, sources said. Telangana too has joined the list of must-win states along with West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
“The BRS is led by someone, who runs politics while sitting in a farmhouse when in the government or out of it, and it will have no future,” a top functionary said, adding that the leader had unleashed his son and daughter to loot.
The BJP didn’t subscribe to the idea that splitting the anti-establishment vote would ultimately help the Congress; it was of the view that the BRS would become a spent force.
“Janata BRS ko khaali karegi, hum nahin,” a top leader said, when asked if the BJP would engineer a split in the BRS.
The party leadership has asked its state leaders to dispel rumours that injustice would be done to the southern states in the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats. “It’s an apprehension. There will be a proportionate increase for all and no state will lose seats,” another central leader pointed out.
The party also has no inclination to seek a merger of Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The speculation of merger grew stronger following Pawan Kalyan’s comments on issues related to Hinduism.
Contrary to criticism from opponents, the central BJP leader claimed that the party was more secular than any other party in the country since its governments never discriminated against nor favoured any religion while extending welfare schemes.
"There must be crores of Muslims benefiting from our flagship programmes like gas cylinders and toilets. We never claim that we extended benefits to Muslims or other minorities because we never try to appease them," he added.
Asked about AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi being accused of playing the B-team of the BJP in the elections, the BJP leader said that the Jan Sangh too once faced the criticism of catering to the interests of the Congress, which never was the case. “Now that the BJP has become stronger and the number one, other parties are accused of playing our B team,” he said.
