Herculean Task For BJP, Congress To Find Candidates In Telangana

On Saturday, BJP President Amit Shah descended on the Nawabi heartland of Hyderabad to ceremoniously kickstart the election process for the poll-bound Telangana. No sooner did he step into the state BJP headquarters, his party’s narrative became apparent. Shah minced no words when he was asked about the four-and-a-half year rule of caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR). The BJP president not only rubbished talks of alliance with the TRS but also accused KCR of indulging in appeasement politics by bowing down to the whims and fancies of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

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Comparatively, the usually candid KCR’s response of having any truck with the BJP was quite meek. A couple of weeks ago, when the TRS supremo was asked a similar question of his equation with the BJP, KCR said he was pursuing good relations with the Centre merely for fulfilling a constitutional duty. It will be noteworthy to see how KCR responds to this personal attack in his election rallies. All said and done, it’s business time for the principal parties in Telangana. While the Election Commission (EC) is yet to take a call on going in for early elections in the state, the parties now have an arduous task to look for candidates. It’s here that the TRS is clearly in the driver’s seat, having already announced candidates for 105 of the 119 Assembly seats in the state.

READ: Telangana Elections: TDP All Set To Hold Crucial Meet To Discuss Possible Alliance After Dissolution Of The State Assembly

The BJP meanwhile is still in search for strong candidates. It is the only party which will single-handedly take on the TRS in all the Assembly constituencies. A lot of work needs to be done on the ground before the final candidates’ list is announced. The party is quite strong in Hyderabad, having won all of its 5 Assembly seats in 2014 from the city. Sources in the saffron party say they’re looking to offer tickets again to its winning candidates.  

“We will announce the entire list of candidates when the schedule for elections is announced. Candidates for around 45 constituencies have been finalised; the rest have to be looked into. We are also waiting for the Congress to announce its list to field a worthy opponent,” said a top BJP source who is in the know of the scheme of things.

On the other hand, the Congress has a bigger headache of having to go through a lot of permutations and combinations before announcing its list of candidates. The principal opposition in the state is now part of the Mahakutami (grand alliance) with the TDP, CPI, and the TJS parties. MLA aspirants from both Congress and TDP camps are reportedly unwilling to give up their seats for their alliance partners. Party members have been in fact asked not to approach the media in case of differences and have asked them to settle the matter internally. In fact last week, both Rahul Gandhi and Chandrababu Naidu appealed to their party representatives to offer tickets to those candidates who are most likely to win seats from a particular constituency, never mind the party.  

The BJP and Congress might be the principal competitors in the national arena, but the stakes in Telangana are quite different for both the parties, offering a mouth-watering contest in the youngest state in India.