Modi’s rallies not likely to boost prospects of BJP in Telangana

Citing the example of the Karnataka polls, the leaders pointed out that though the Prime Minister was the main campaigner for the polls, the party could not come back to power. When being in power in Karnataka, the Prime Minister could not do much. How could one expect his rallies here to put the party back on track, a BJP leader asked.

Hyderabad: Even as senior State BJP leaders are trying to create an impression that Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s forthcoming two public meetings in the State will set right everything and help the party regain lost ground, several party leaders and senior functionaries within the party feel that Modi’s visit will not help as the party has become weak at the grassroot level.

The leaders argue that until the party strengthens booth level committees and takes up outreach programmes, its prospects will not improve. “The Prime Minister will address public meetings and make some announcements and leave, but the real work has to be done at the grassroot level. People will forget all the schemes announced by the PM in a day or two. Public meetings by the PM and central leaders are not going to work,” a BJP leader said.

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Citing the example of the Karnataka polls, the leaders pointed out that though the Prime Minister was the main campaigner for the polls, the party could not come back to power. When being in power in Karnataka, the Prime Minister could not do much. How could one expect his rallies here to put the party back on track, a BJP leader asked.

During Modi’s Warangal public meeting too, hype was created that it would boost the party’s prospects, but soon after the meeting, Bandi Sanjay was replaced with G Kishan Reddy and the party activities came to a complete standstill. In fact, more voices of dissent rattled the BJP and several leaders left the party.

BJP leaders here feel that too much dependency on Modi, like in Karnataka, would prove counterproductive as so far nothing much has been done at the ground level by the party to garner support of the people. On the other hand rival parties, especially BRS, has already announced 115 candidates and started campaigning. Even Congress has announced six guarantees to attract people.

The State leaders are worried as the party does not have winning candidates in the majority of the constituencies. In fact, so far it was able to select candidates for about 40 odd constituencies and struggling to get candidates for the rest of the constituencies. The party had received over 6,000 applications from people to contest polls, but a majority of them are non-serious contestants.

On the other hand, senior leaders are confined to press conferences and not on grassroot level activities. In fact, a bus yatra was cancelled due to lack of coordination among leaders. Many fear that this time too, the party will not cross single digits in the Assembly. In 2018 it managed to win just one seat and lost deposits in 105 seats where it contested.