Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is learnt to be assessing the impact of the BJP’s proposed national executive meeting on state politics and the upcoming Assembly polls, and devising counter-strategy to minimise the impact.
Party sources said the Chief Minister had been holding a series of meetings with party’s senior leaders for the past two days to discuss the BJP’s national executive meeting to be held in Hyderabad for two days on July 2 and 3, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP’s Union ministers and Chief Minister’s of BJP-ruled states. They said the Chief Minister was planning to undertake tours to various states during the same time to unite regional parties against the BJP.
Since the BJP’s meeting is being held just a few days ahead of the Presidential election expected sometime around July 15, Chandrashekar Rao feels that he can undertake tours to various states from July 1 to meet leaders of regional parties and bring them together against the BJP-led NDA candidate and in that way he could attract the national political limelight and minimise the impact of BJP’s national meeting in Hyderabad, according to sources.
The other option being seriously considered by Chandrashekar Rao, according to party sources, is organising a massive show of strength by holding a huge public meeting in Hyderabad soon after BJP’s meeting in July to counter BJP’s claims of ‘double engine growth’ if BJP remains in power both in Telangana and at the Centre and projecting ‘double engine’ as ‘trouble engine’ by telling people how BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat etc lag behind Telangana despite ‘double engine’ in power, drinking water, agriculture sectors, development programmes and welfare schemes and how BJP-ruled states faced power cuts in summer while Telangana could provide uninterrupted power supply in all seasons.
The TRS leadership is keenly watching BJP’s national meeting to be held in Telangana nearly after two decades and at a time when Assembly polls due for December 2023 are nearing. The BJP which is making rapid inroads into Telangana since Lok Sabha polls in 2019 after it lost deposits in about 105 seats in 2018 Assembly polls has been giving sleepless nights to TRS leadership after its stupendous performance in Dubbak and Huzurabad Assembly bypolls and GHMC polls. The presence of the Prime Minister, BJP’s union ministers and Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states for two days is expected to boost the morale of BJP leaders and cadres in Telangana to take on the ruling TRS more aggressively in the run up to 2023 Assembly polls.
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