Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah
A direct contest is being considered between Congress and BRS in Telangana Assembly elections, but BJP is busy in making it triangular. In the last few days, PM Modi and Amit Shah have shown strength and brought BJP into the election race. In Telangana, BJP has tried to turn the political situation in its favor by taking five big steps one after the other like making OBC CM, classifying Dalit reservation, ending Muslim reservation. In such a situation, it remains to be seen whether BJP’s desire of becoming kingmaker in Telangana will be fulfilled?
Voting for 119 assembly seats in Telangana is to be held on November 30, while the results will be declared on December 3. While KCR is working with his entire family to achieve a hat-trick of power in the state, Congress is desperate to come to power in Telangana. On behalf of BJP, PM Modi, Amit Shah to JP Nadda have taken charge of the election campaign, while on behalf of Congress, Rahul Gandhi to Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are holding massive rallies. Many attractive promises are also being made by political parties. In such a situation, BJP has also made many political moves, through which it wants to realize its dreams.
BJP’s bet on OBC CM
Keeping in view the political equation of Rajasthan, BJP has taken the gamble of making OBC Chief Minister. From PM Modi to Amit Shah have said in their rallies that if BJP comes to power, the CM will be from the OBC community. BJP did not just play the OBC card, but Telangana has the largest number of backward classes. 54 percent of the voters in the state are OBCs, but the upper caste community has been in command of power. Reddy and Velama are the two major upper castes. Congress’s strong contender is Revanth Reddy, who comes from the Reddy caste, while BRS chief and CM KCR belongs to the Velama caste.
BJP has also put itself in the electoral contest by promising CM to the OBC community. The party is also raising this issue with full vigor. Congress and BRS leaders have to answer this. Not only this, BJP has fielded more candidates from OBC community than Congress and BRS. BJP has fielded 39 candidates from OBC castes, while Congress has fielded 20 candidates and BRS has fielded 26 candidates from backward classes.
Classification of Dalit Reservation
In Telangana, BJP’s bet is on Madiga, the largest section of the Dalit community. BJP has formed a committee to look into the demands of the Madiga community. PM Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally organized by the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) in Secunderabad, tried to woo the Madiga community, which forms 60 per cent of the state’s Dalit population. He said that the Center will soon form a committee which will resolve their three-decade-pending demand for classification of Scheduled Castes.
When the Prime Minister said that he supported the committee and its objectives, Madiga Reservation Porata Committee leader Manda Krishna Madiga burst into tears. A video of this is also going viral, in which Prime Minister Manda Krishna is seen consoling Madiga. Out of 119 assembly seats in the state, their influence is on 20 to 25 seats, which has the power to make or break the game of any party.
Apart from this, it can influence the direction of elections on many other seats also. In such a situation, after Prime Minister Modi’s announcement, this Dalit community can become ’emotional’ and vote in favor of BJP because the Congress-led UPA government had put the Usha Mehra Committee report on hold.
Promise to end Muslim reservation
Muslim community gets 4 percent reservation in Telangana. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has made a move to end Muslim reservation. He said that if BJP government is formed in Telangana, it will end Muslim reservation. He said that Telangana is the only state in the country where the work of giving religious reservation to Muslims has been done. BJP has decided that we will increase OBC reservation by ending unconstitutional reservation in Telangana and there will also be judicial reservation for SC-ST. In this way, BJP is openly playing Hindutva in Telangana. This is the reason why this time BJP has not given even a single Muslim candidate and is openly promising everything from Ram Temple to UCC.
Plan to win with popular promises
BJP has made many attractive promises to win the political battle of Telangana. BJP has promised to reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel, while it has announced to provide four free LPG cylinders annually to Ujjwala beneficiaries. Apart from this, free laptops will be given to college students and a fixed deposit of Rs 2 lakh will be given to the girls at the time of birth, which can be encashed after attaining the age of 21 years. BJP has also promised the people of Telangana a free trip to Ayodhya for the darshan of Ram Lalla.
Formation of National Turmeric Board
Farmers of Telangana have been demanding for a long time to constitute a National Turmeric Board for fair price of the crop. Modi government has taken a big bet by forming the National Turmeric Board. The board will focus on increasing exports along with the development of turmeric and its products in the country. Turmeric is cultivated in large quantities in Telangana, due to which farmers were demanding this.
It will help in developing new markets internationally to increase awareness, consumption and export of turmeric. Not only this, BJP has promised to offer Rs 3,100 on paddy to the farmers of Telangana. Apart from this, the manifesto promises to provide Rs 2,500 as input assistance to small and marginal farmers to enable them to purchase seeds and fertilizers.
In fact, in the Telangana Assembly elections held in 2018, BJP’s vote share was only 6.98 percent, but just one year later, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s vote share increased to 19.65 percent in Telangana. Such a huge increase in vote share happened in just 2-3 months.
BJP had won four seats in Telangana in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP steadily improved its performance and won 48 out of 150 municipal divisions in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections in 2020. This is the reason why BJP has hopes of becoming kingmaker in the 2023 elections?
