New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been making its presence felt in Telangana over the past few months. But despite an encouraging performance in the Munugode bypoll, senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member K. Laxman has said that though there is a “galaxy” of local leaders in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be their face in the assembly elections to be held next year.
Last week, in Munugode, the BJP came second to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state, pushing the Congress to third place.
According to Laxman, the TRS made it a battle of “prestige” and pumped in over Rs 500 crore to ensure victory. For 2023, he added, the BJP will focus on the mass appeal of PM Modi.
“KCR’s face has proved to be a failure. People now don’t believe in his words. His actions and words are different. Now we have the bright face of Modiji. That alone will work throughout the country. Not just in the state elections but also in the national elections,” said Laxman.
“After the polls, the party high-command will definitely decide on who is going to be a better face, keeping in mind all sociological and regional aspects. We have a galaxy of leaders in Telangana. But Modiji’s development plank, one for welfare schemes for the poor, and historic decisions that he has taken will be the focus,” he added.
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‘BJP is the alternative in Telangana’
The BJP leader said the party will offer a double-engine government and a clear focus on welfare schemes in the state. “The last few elections, whether it was the Huzurabad and Munugode bypolls or the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) elections, have shown that the BJP is the only alternative. We will implement the Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat model in Telangana. Development and welfare will be our main plank,” said Laxman.
The leader, who had campaigned extensively during the Munugode bypoll, said that though “technically” the BJP lost the election, it had registered a “moral” win.
“Munugode was a Congress seat and the sitting MLA quit as he realised that only Modiji and BJP can take on KCR (Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao) and take the country forward. He joined the BJP,” he said.
“We fought, but unfortunately the TRS government and party took it as a prestige issue. You have seen almost seven bypolls take place in the country, but nowhere has so much money been spent on a bypoll by a ruling party like in Munugode. The entire government, MPs, MLCs, and the entire administration was in one constituency for a whole month. TRS spent almost Rs 500 crore on the election and made many promises,” he added.
Laxman, a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, pointed out that the BJP got 87,000 votes and stood second and that the win for the TRS was by a narrow margin. “Technically we may have lost but morally we have won. We pushed the Congress party to third (place). They lost their deposit in spite of Rahul Gandhi carrying out the Bharat Jodo Yatra during that time in Telangana,” he said, adding that the Congress has been routed in the entire country and the BJP alone was the “viable option” for the people of Telangana to take on the TRS.
‘EWS reservation made possible because of Modiji’
In Munugode, the win was a big relief for the TRS, especially after the BJP’s impressive show in the GHMC elections in 2020. The BJP had won 48 of the GHMC’s 150 wards against TRS’ 55, and AIMIM’s 44.
In the Munugode bypoll, TRS candidate Koosukuntla Prabhakar Reddy got 97,006 votes, winning by a margin of over 10,000 votes over the BJP’s Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who secured 86,697 votes. The Congress, which had won the constituency with Reddy as its candidate, managed to get only 23,906 votes.
The bypoll was necessitated after Rajgopal Reddy quit the Congress and resigned as MLA in August. He then joined the BJP to contest the election.
Reacting to the allegations of the opposition of imposition of Hindi in southern states by the Union government, Laxman said it was not trying to impose any language in any state. “The BJP as well as (Union home minister) Amit Shah both have emphasised on (nurturing) regional languages even in the New Education policy”.
On poaching by TRS, he simply said a judicial enquiry should be conducted as the TRS is using this episode to defame the BJP.
Hailing the Supreme Court’s judgment Monday upholding 10 per cent quota for the economically weaker section (EWS), he said the “EWS reservation has been made possible because of Modiji” and that the party was giving due importance to OBCs as well as the EWS. “The DMK has a limited agenda and was hence criticising the EWS reservation,” he said.
(Edited by V.S. Chandrasekar)
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