Initially, the BJP planned over 25 public meetings with national leaders including Modi, Amit Shah and a slew of union Ministers, Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled States and other national leaders.
Published Date – 14 April 2024, 10:00 PM
Hyderabad: With less than a month left for polling on May 13, the Lok Sabha election campaign is gathering steam in Telangana as all three major parties – the Congress, BRS and BJP – have intensified their campaigns.
While all the leaders in the State have already hit the campaign trail, several national leaders and neighbouring States are set to descend on Telangana for campaigns over the next four weeks.
The BRS has been way ahead of its political rivals when it comes to announcing its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls and launching the electioneering.
Despite suffering minor setbacks in the form of defections, the party picked up pace and appears to be the front runner in several parliamentary constituencies.
Having conducted parliamentary constituency-wise preparatory meetings with the party cadre soon after the Assembly elections, the party candidates already completed the first round of interaction with their constituents and have only intensified it further as the polling date inches closer.
Leader of Opposition and BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao is leading the attack from the front against both the Congress and the BJP. He has already addressed two public meetings at Karimnagar and Chevella, to be followed by the third one at Sultanpur of erstwhile Medak district on April 16.
He is scheduled to address at least seven more public meetings, besides going on roadshows and holding street corner meetings, meeting farmers, weavers and other sections across the State.
The party was quick to grab the voters attention by focusing on the failures of both the Congress and the BJP to address the issues plaguing Telangana.
Besides highlighting the Congress government’s failure to deliver its promises within the assured 100 days, the party is highlighting the State government’s inefficiency in handling the water and power crisis in the State.
On the other front, the BRS has launched a full throttle attack on the Modi government at the Centre for denying basic support to Telangana’s growth and not making any notable contribution for the State’s development in the last 10 years.
The BJP too launched its poll campaign across the State, with its candidates reaching out voters at the ground level. The party’s campaign strategy has been aggressive with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing three public meetings in three months.
Initially, the BJP planned over 25 public meetings with national leaders including Modi, Amit Shah and a slew of union Ministers, Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled States and other national leaders.
However, with increased trouble in its strongholds, the party is learnt to be focusing on the north Indian States where it can garner more seats.
Sources in the party’s Telangana unit informed that the national leaders were busy with the campaign activities in States scheduled to go for polling in the first and second phases, and would intensify their campaign here from next week.
With no strong leader to campaign on their behalf within Telangana, the BJP candidates are fighting on their own in most constituencies and largely relying on the Modi factor as well as the party’s Hindutva agenda to garner votes.
Meanwhile, the Congress has been trailing behind among all, with three of its candidates still pending finalisation in crucial parliamentary constituencies like Karimnagar and Khammam.
Though TPCC president and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy visited Delhi at least a dozen times in the last three months, a final decision is yet to come.
On Sunday, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal chaired party meetings with Revanth Reddy and others to strategise the Lok Sabha campaign.
The party held two major public meetings attended by Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in the last couple of months, and another two public meetings were addressed by Revanth Reddy since the poll schedule was announced.
Besides the delay by the AICC leadership in announcing the candidates, the campaign activity has been sluggish in most constituencies barring a few.
Making issues worse, internal fights due to selection of candidates who defected from other parties, has had an adverse impact on the overall poll campaign of the party which is largely banking on its recent Assembly victory to garner votes in the Lok Sabha polls as well.
