New Delhi: Despite being the world’s largest party, several states in South India are still formidable fortresses outside the BJP’s ambit. Until now, the BJP held power in Karnataka, but it faced defeat in the Assembly elections in May this year. The party is now focusing more on Telangana.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP had garnered approximately 6.98 per cent of the votes in Telangana, which was considerably higher than the 3.51 per cent received by Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and the 2.71 per cent secured by Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM. However, the number of seats won by the BJP was fewer than both these parties. Owaisi had won seven seats, and Naidu had secured two seats, but despite contesting on a large scale and putting all their might into the elections, the BJP could only win one seat.
Therefore, the BJP is attempting to replicate the formula of the victory it achieved in West Bengal (from 3 to 77 Assembly seats) in Telangana as well. Under the three-tier formula of Bengal, while the BJP has opened a significant front against the KCR government (TRS) on the one hand, the party is also deploying Union Ministers, MPs, and prominent leaders from the State to create a favourable environment for the party in the Assembly elections.
