HYDERABAD: The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had of late launched a multi-pronged attack against the TRS, has now decided to target disgruntled leaders in the ruling party and get them into the BJP fold.
In a sign that makes it clear that BJP believes that no one is untouchable when it comes to its bid to come to power in the state in the next Legislative Assembly elections, the party’s Telangana in-charge Tarun Chugh pointed out there were several TRS leaders at the state, district, and mandal levels who were evincing an interest in joining the BJP.
Chugh told the state leaders to set up committees at different levels and take steps to identify and woo such TRS leaders into the party. He also indicated that those willing to join the BJP from the TRS will need to set aside their personal agendas and will have to, more or less, swear allegiance to the well-being and development of the country when he said “the difference between BJP workers, and those from other parties is that our workers strive for the betterment of the country and not for their own benefit.”
Taking a shot at the TRS leadership, the BJP slogan, he said, was “country first, family last.”
Addressing a meeting of the BJP state office-bearers here on Monday, he said “People of Telangana want a ‘KCR-mukt’ state.”
The BJP has already set up a committee headed by senior leader N Indrasena Reddy to vet those willing to join the BJP, but Monday’s open call to target the TRS indicates that the BJP, which is perceived not to be strong in several of the 119 constituencies in the state, is willing to take on the ruling party by attracting its leaders, and thereby looking at opportunities to bolster its presence, with leaders from the ruling party who could possibly influence voters to switch allegiance away from TRS and back BJP on the day of reckoning.
The call from Chugh came even as he, along with state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, made it clear that the party was set to win the next elections in the state.
Chugh said “it is certain that the TRS government will collapse and we will win the 2023 elections. This is not just me saying it. This is what the people in the state are saying.”
A double-engine government will come to Telangana and will end the TRS story, once and for all, he added.
Chugh said that starting from May 30, for a fortnight, the BJP workers must tell every household in the state about the successes of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the revolutionary pro-people decisions it has taken.
Sanjay said the three recent public meetings in the state, the TRS’ plenary, the Congress party meeting addressed by Rahul Gandhi, and the BJP’s Praja Sangrama Yatra meeting addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah, have made it clear that it will be the BJP that will win the next elections in the state.
“The people are saying this, and three recent surveys in the state have also revealed this,” he said, adding that the surveys showed that the position of TRS and Congress had deteriorated considerably in the state.
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