BJP and the art of lying
Hyderabad: The BJP seems to be completely at sea when it comes to taking on the TRS in the October 30 by-election to the Huzarabad Assembly constituency. That there is total bankruptcy of ideas in the so-called national party is evident from the moves its local leadership has made in the run-up to the bypoll. […]
Hyderabad: The BJP seems to be completely at sea when it comes to taking on the TRS in the October 30 by-election to the Huzarabad Assembly constituency. That there is total bankruptcy of ideas in the so-called national party is evident from the moves its local leadership has made in the run-up to the bypoll.
The saffron party’s complete inability to speak on public issues, its failure to come up with a blueprint for the development of the hitherto neglected constituency and its entire focus, as a consequence, on below-the-belt personal attacks on the TRS leadership clearly reflect the political frustration of the BJP. The party candidate, Eatala Rajender, who represented the constituency six times before he quit the State Assembly that necessitated the bypoll, has been desperately trying to play the victim card and gain sympathy among the electorate, but his poor report card is something that the people of the constituency will not ignore.
While the TRS, which had a head start in the campaign, confined itself to speaking about the plans it had for the development of the constituency and the welfare of the people, BJP that got into the race much later, immediately launched a smear campaign against the TRS leadership. Realising that its game plan wasn’t cutting much ice with the electorate and with the D date fast approaching, the saffron party went into overdrive and came up with devious plans that were offensive by nature to the people of the constituency.
The BJP began its machiavellian maneuvers with Rajender and the State’s party general secretary G Premender Reddy shooting off individual letters to the Election Commission seeking a halt to the implementation of the path-breaking Telangana Dalit Bandhu, aimed at overall empowerment of the deprived community, in the Huzurabad constituency. The EC promptly obliged the party that is ruling at the Centre, but the Commission’s decision had its backlash in the constituency with the Dalits taking to the streets to register their protest. BJP and Rajender surely wouldn’t have missed this point.
Then came the EC’s directive, seemingly a general one for all the constituencies across the country headed for bypolls, prohibiting leaders of political parties from holding campaign meetings in districts adjoining poll-bound constituencies. The message from the EC was, of course, primarily targeted at Telangana State, since Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was scheduled to address a meeting at Penchikalpeta, just outside Huzurabad Assembly constituency. If that is not a clear indication of BJP developing cold feet, what is?
The latest instance of desperation setting in deeply in the BJP camp came in the words of Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy. The Union Minister, in the course of his campaign speech in the constituency on Friday, sought to apportion the entire credit for the Dalit Bandhu scheme to Rajender that is at once ridiculous. The funny part is that Rajender himself has not even uttered anything even remotely to suggest his involvement in the conception of the scheme. In fact, the BJP candidate went to the extent of seeking its suspension, something one doesn’t expect him to do if it was his baby as Kishan Reddy claims.
In the ultimate analysis, Rajender and his party are faced with an uphill task in disentangling themselves from the web of lies they have spun around themselves, and the Huzurabad electorate is well aware of this fact.
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