Countdown Begins For KCR

The recently concluded National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Hyderabad has a political agenda and gave a promise of freeing the people of Telangana from the family-centric rule of KCR. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have not hidden their intentions to capture power with the support of the people and set the “countdown clock” to KCR. The family-centric parties in general and TRS in particular are lambasted for their undemocratic functioning, inept governance and minting money through corruption. The speeches of the top leaders are sharp and focused and political resolutions specific to the agenda. ‘End to KCR rule’ is the slogan of the meet and further action on the field will make that slogan a reality.

PM’s Appeal to Minorities

Prime Minister’s emphatic speech where he exhorted the party to reach out to the marginalised sections within the minority community to broaden the party’s social base is a well thought out agenda for the future. Such an outreach implemented in Assam is giving positive results in the sense that at least some of the Muslims are understanding the need to respect the sentiments of Hindus. The latest appeal of the Jamiat Ulama leader Maulana Badruddin Ajmal to fellow Muslims to avoid cow slaughter during the upcoming Eid Al-Adha festival as cows are worshipped by the Hindus is notable. His reasoning that Hindus are the majority community in India and minorities should respect the majority is a welcome change from the secular brigade which injected Muslims first and reasoning that their sentiments are more valued rather than the majority religious sentiments. Thus the Prime Minister’s vision of “from tushtikaran (appeasement) to Sabka Vikas (development of all) is now welcomed by all sections of society.

Much thought must have gone in the central leadership’s mind before embarking on its path to the South through Karnataka and Telangana. The Chief Minister of Telangana KCR knows the history and strategy of BJP well. It is the party which won only one seat in 2018 Assembly elections but could capture four Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and then handed over defeat to KCR in Dubbaka and Huzurabad by-elections to the Assembly. Both of them were alleged strongholds of KCR. If BJP could breach his known citadels then the day may not be far away to capture power by defeating TRS. Another important way forward for the BJP cadre is shown by PM Narendra Modi when he asked them to take out “Sneh Yatra” (friendly rallies) aimed at boosting affection and coordination in society by reaching to different sections of the people. The cadre is advised not to talk or act in haste and offer an opportunity to the opponents to derail the focus of BJP in winning the State of Telangana. Modi’s suggestion to the cadre “to be balanced, restrained and developing positivity and empathy and stick to dialogue” is well received.

Going for the Jugular

BJP is known to adopt State-specific strategies and it also has the history of dethroning established ruling parties as they did in Haryana and Tripura. Congress was defeated in Haryana and CPI (M) was shown the door out in Tripura despite BJP not having the established organisation strength in those two States. That the BJP top leadership of Modi and Shah are known for their political shrewdness in identifying the weakness of the opponent and going for the kill at the opportune time. It is because of their past victories in other States that the political watchers are closely watching for the next move of BJP in Telangana post its NEC. It is this specific target of Telangana by the BJP which is causing worry for both TRS and its supremo KCR.

The strategy of BJP to capture Telangana is already in implementation much before the national executive meet. The outreach programme which was conceived by Narendra Modi to cover all the 119 Assembly constituencies by the senior members of BJP national executive was completed. Each member reached a designated constituency and interacted with the local voters and the BJP cadre during their two-day stay in the constituency. The briefs they gathered are now analysed and programmes devised accordingly to impact the voters.

BJP’s announcement of Southern conquest, and its immediate target of power in Telangana in the 2023 State Assembly elections is worrying already weakened KCR and he is scurrying for cover in the regional parties umbrella. He is even preparing to join hands with Congress, his sworn political enemy in the State. It is not a strange phenomenon as KCR’s ideology is “power at any cost” since his agitation days. His promise of “Dalit CM for Telangana” was forgotten and that is replaced by “power to the family”. He is the CM, his son and his nephew are the Cabinet Ministers. Known Dalit faces were ill-treated earlier.

Even before BJP’s full-fledged implementation of its strategy, KCR has identified the party as its main rival but is faltering in formulating his counter strategy to tackle the BJP. KCR’s confusion led him to make abortive attempts and burn political fingers. For a while he tried to take refuge in the tent of regional parties and float ‘Anti Congress-Anti BJP front’. When his idea was not latched up by no regional leader he withdrew to his favourite hideout ‘farm house’, to lick his wounded ego. He made an abortive attempt to form a national party under his leadership. Then he skipped the meeting of opposition parties convened by Mamata Banerjee to select the presidential candidate because of Congress presence but KCR sent his son and working president of TRS to be by the side of Rahul Gandhi on the day Yashwanth Sinha filed his nomination.

KCR is panicky in facing Modi and every time Modi arrives in Hyderabad he is making an excuse not to receive the Prime Minister. Then to suppress his shivers KCR made a bold appearance to receive Yashwanth Sinha at the airport for obvious reasons. Every anti-Modi step of KCR ended in a failure and the TRS cadre is now worried about their own political future. They feel that KCR is treading the same downward path of his political mentor Chandrababu Naidu. Criticising Modi, joining hands with Congress to announce a grand opposition unity to take on Modi and tasting defeat in his own state is the story of Naidu. End game of KCR may be no different.

That the voters of Telangana realised their political mistake of handing over the State to a family and are in search of alternatives. The mood of the Telangana voter is evident in the way they responded to the public meet of BJP. The Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections revealed the mind of the urban voters. But for the communal MIM, the TRS could have lost the Mayor Post of the city. KCR’s friendship with MIM is resented by the Telangana voters. The free hand given to MIM and Owaisi to ridicule the Hindu Gods and Goddesses and the way the offending Owaisi was bailed out exonerated through soft prosecution by KCR government has hurt the Hindu sentiment. The butchery of MIM cadre in Bhainsa town and the support TRS government given to the Islamic terrorists is causing burn in Hindu heart. While Modi is calling for Sabka Saath Sabhka Vikas, the Telangana CM is talking about Muslim appeasement policies.

Boosting Confidence of Cadre From South

Telangana offers the BJP an easy way to approach the voters as the people of the State are familiar with Hindi. There are many districts which border both Karnataka and Maharashtra where BJP is in power and is in a position to influence voters from those States. The executive meeting has certainly boosted the confidence of not only Telangana but also the cadre from other Southern States. There are many leaders of other parties which are already in touch with BJP for a shift in their allegiance. Removing the KCR family which has looted the state in the last eight years is the prime wish of many other parties in the state. The galvanised cadre under the state leadership and its fight with TRS is likely to attract many disgruntled leaders to reach out to BJP.

The outreach programme, if goes as planned, will boost the morale of the BJP leadership in the State and galvanise the cadre to take on TRS. There is a totally different ball game in Telangana in near future and that will be the end game for KCR and his family.